


The New Kids

by Evil_Panda_Roar



Series: The New Kids [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Family Drama, Fluff, Human Bill Cipher, M/M, Mystery, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:03:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 46,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7571698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Panda_Roar/pseuds/Evil_Panda_Roar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dipper and Mabel Pines return to Gravity Falls when they hear about their great uncles passing. They plan to spend the entire year there helping Soos with the Mystery Shack. On their first day of school they meet an eccentric kid named Bill, and his strange twin, who immediately tries to befriend Dipper and Mabel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Kids

(Dipper’s POV)

Mabel and I’s last year of high school will be spent in Gravity Falls. Our parents got the news first that Grunkle Stan and Ford had died. They had been on one of their adventures, and it ended badly. Soos still runs the Mystery Shack, and we asked if he needed our help. Grunkle Stan was as much of family to him as he is to Mabel and I. He said that he would really like the extra help, so we talked to our parents and they transferred us to the Gravity Falls high school so we could finish our year there and be able to be there for Soos. It also would give us a kind of reassurance. The old Shack still looked the same and it still held the same atmosphere it had before. Our last summer we spent here was years ago, and nothing of interest happened. But we were able to spend time with our Grunkle and his brother. 

“Mabel, do you need any help?” I asked my sister. She was having trouble carrying all her supplies to our only class. I guess here we are going to be in only one classroom because there is barely anyone going to high school here. 

“No, I got this.” She said. Both of us had gotten a rain cloud over our heads. Metaphorically, but this town still has been getting a lot of rainy days. As though the actual town is mourning the loss. 

We entered the classroom and it felt as though all heads turned towards us and no one was talking. There were a few familiar faces, and two I had never seen before. I would have remembered them for sure. Pacifica, Gideon; I still hate that guy, and there seemed to be another set of twins. They looked exactly alike except one had an eyepatch and the other had dyed his hair blue. At least this year we won’t be the weird twins.

“Dipper! Mabel! I’m so sorry about your great uncles. I only heard about it when you got back to town. I’m sorry I didn’t stop over to say this before.” Pacifica, who had become our friend even after almost an entire year of hating each other, whispered her condolences to us. 

“You don’t need to say anything.” I said, but I really would just rather like it to not be brought up. Mabel was handling this better than me because she had a bright outlook on things and had convinced herself they were in a better place. I however, didn’t feel that way and couldn’t help but think of all the things we should have done differently. We should have made plans to visit them more often. 

“Who’s those guys?” Mabel whispered to Pacifica. She was obviously talking about the strange twins sitting in the back of the room. The one with the blue hair had gone back to reading his book, but his blonde brother was staring at us and it made me uncomfortable. 

“I’ll tell you out in the hall.” Pacifica lead us out of the room as though she was scared to talk about them in front of them. That’s something new. “They showed up two years ago. The guy with the eyepatch is Bill, and the blue haired one is Will. They actually have the exact same name, but use different nicknames so people will be able to tell who they are talking about. I guess their parents just weren’t creative enough to come up with two names.”

“That’s correct in a way. Our parents were only expecting one child and weren’t smart enough to come up with another name.” Bill had followed us out into the hallway. “So you’re the Pines twins. Pacifica talks about you all the time.” Bill smirked at Pacifica when she started blushing. 

“He’s exaggerating.” Pacifica tried to regain her dignity. Even though she would talk to us she made it clear she was going to act better than us in every way.

“Not really.” He paused to think about something. “Pine Tree,” He pointed to me as he said that. “and you will be Shooting Star.” He pointed to my sister. What is he talking about? Then I remembered I was wearing the hat I had gotten from the Shack years ago; there was a pine tree on it. And Mabel was wearing her favorite sweater that had a shooting star on it. 

“Really? You’re doing that again?” Pacifica rolled her eyes. “He comes up with nicknames for everyone the first time he meets them, yet he refuses to give me a nickname.” 

“Well if you want one so bad-” 

“No, I do not.” Pacifica practically yelled and stormed off into the room.

“I hope you are ready to waste half a year of your life. This school’s teachers have more than a few screws loose, and hardly stay on topic.” Bill said before turning around and heading back into the classroom. My sister and I shared a concerned look before walking back into the classroom. Most of the seats were open so we sat next to Pacifica; who was the closest we had to a friend in this school.

Most of the day went by without any problems. However, there was a few disruptions with Bill who seemed to have to interrupt the teacher all the time and who also ran into a desk trying to leave the room, and Will would correct the teacher if they ever said anything that wasn’t correct. Which seemed to be at least twice an hour. What Bill had warned us was correct; most of the teachers didn’t seem like they knew what they were doing. 

“That was a rough first day.” I commented. Trying to get my sister talking again. She seemed to be focused on something. 

“What do you think of Bill?” She asked me.

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean he seems completely different than his brother. They are actually a lot like us in a way.” Mabel said thoughtfully. “Will is smart and nerdy like you, and Bill, even though he’s more rude, he’s like me in a way. Don’t you think? We should get to know them more.” 

“Well that’s an interesting take on those two.” I never thought of them like that, but now that Mabel mentioned it I can understand where she gets it. 

“Hey, Pine Tree!” I heard someone yell. I didn’t need to see who it was to know it was Bill. What does he want? “Are you really staying at that weird, old Shack in the woods?” He asked when he ran up to us. His brother was walking on our direction.

“Yeah, it’s called the Mystery Shack.” I told him, weary of what he might want. 

“Cool, cool. Can we walk there with you?” He asked quickly.

“Sure, we would like to have the company. Wouldn’t we Dipper?” My sister answered for us. 

“Bill, we still have a project to get done.” Will complained.

“Come on, that’s a night before project.” Bill waved off his brother’s comment. 

“How are you planning on doing that when we ran out of energy drinks?”

“What?” Bill looked as though his way of life had been insulted. 

“You drank them all while working on the last ‘night before’ project.” Will answered him calmly. 

“Sorry, I have to go on an emergency trip to the store.” Bill said and started running away. 

“I’m sorry, my brother lives on caffeine. I would still like to walk with you, if that is okay with you?” Will seemed far more mild mannered than his brother. I think I could handle him walking with us.

“Sure.” I said to my sister’s surprise. 

“Let’s get going then!” Mabel locked arms with both me and Will before skipping away from the school and dragging us with her. 

The walk to the Shack was uneventful. I got to know Will better and realized that he and I really were similar. He was more into biology than I was however. He also informed, warned, Mabel and I that a dissection in our biology based class was coming up. Mabel was outraged to hear about it, her love for animals didn’t stop at pigs and farm animals. The frogs we were going to dissect were also under her protection, and she refused to have anything to do with it. I was surprised to hear that Will agreed with her. He mentioned that even though he loved biology he wasn’t into the cutting open animals part. 

“You guys seriously aren’t going to take part in the dissections?” I asked them when we made it back to the Mystery Shack. 

“NO! Think about the frogs, Dipper!” Mabel complained. Will just let Mabel do the explaining for him. Deciding that it would be helpless to continue the conversation, I came up with a new topic.

“So Will, where do you and Bill live?” I asked politely, but I felt as though I had done something wrong when Will’s expression changed to sadness.

“We, um, we kinda live…” He was rubbing his hands together as though not sure how he should finish. “We don’t-”

“We live in the apartments by the school. You probably haven’t been by them yet. They are a little out of the way, and most people never pay much attention to them.” Bill, who had somehow gotten into the kitchen, finished. Where did he come from? Didn’t he have a shopping emergency to attend too.

“How did you get here so fast?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Well you took long enough, I just jogged to the store got all the energy drinks I need and jogged here.” To make sure he wasn’t lying I looked to the clock. Six thirty already? We really did take a long time. I didn’t notice. However I knew for certain that there wasn’t any apartment building by the school. At least there weren’t any I have heard of. I should ask Soos about these two; he lives here and probably knows more about them than I know. 

“Well now that we are all here let’s do something. Any ideas?” Mabel said cheerfully. Her asking was just for show. I could tell she already had an idea of what she wanted to do. 

“Do you have netflix?” Will asked quietly.

“Oh hell no.” I was able to hear Bill say under his breath. 

“No, I’m sorry. But we do have monopoly.” Mabel responded, and pulled out the game from the closet. Holding it out as though it was a prize.

“Twenty dollars says I can destroy all of you at that game.” Bill said proudly. 

“You’re on!” Mabel shouted. I had never seen her lose a game of monopoly before. I doubted that she would lose now. 

It took four hours, but a victor was finally chosen for our game of monopoly. Will and I had been out of the game for almost an hour already and it had just turned into a battle between Bill and Mabel. Eventually Mabel lost. The first time that had happened to her in years. Both of us were surprised by this turn of events, but Bill didn’t seem too shocked to have won the twenty dollars. 

“I should have warned you. My brother is amazing at board games. I’ve tried to figure out if or how he cheats, but I’ve never caught him.” Will mumbled to me. “We should get going.” Will said louder to his brother. It was ten by now, the time seemed to fly by. 

“What? I want a rematch!” Mabel pointed challengingly towards her new board game rival. 

“How about next time, Shooting Star?” Bill responded and got up from his spot on the floor. He stretched before following his brother out of the Shack, and not missing the door on his way out. 

“Bill, are you okay?” Will asked him half heartedly. He seemed to be used to his brother’s clumsy ways. Bill only weakly laughed in response. When the door closed, Mabel and I looked at each other.

“Why does he keep running into things?” Mabel asked me. This wasn’t the first time we saw Bill run into something. 

“I don’t really know. He has to have a terrible depth perception, so that might be it.” I shrugged. That wasn’t the thing that bothered me about them. I need to find Soos and ask him about those supposed apartments. 

“Oh, because he only has that one eye?” Mabel seemed to finally understand. “But don’t you think he would be able to adjust? I mean sometimes people can find a way to compensate and stuff.”

“Well everyone is different, and new places could just be harder for him to navigate.” Though that doesn’t really explain why he would run into desks in the school. They are all in a line, and that should be an easy path to follow. “Or he could just be extremely clumsy.” That’s still an option.

“But I find it kind of adorable.” Mabel mumbled. Oh no, Mabel no. This better not be another stupid crush. I thought she would get over having those in middle school, but it didn’t seem to be that way. “I mean…” Here comes her rant. “He has this mysterious vibe about him…” I cut her off right there.

“I don’t need to hear about your new crush. Let’s just get to sleep, shall we?” I offered and headed to great uncle Ford’s old room. Though Mabel fought me over it, I knew we couldn’t share the attic like we had before, and I decided that this might be good for me. Make me feel a little closer to my late great uncle. There were a few changes that I had made, like a change of bedsheets; there were more than a few holes in the old ones. I plopped down on the bed after I changed into my pajamas and fell asleep after almost an hour of tossing and turning. Maybe this wasn’t going to be as good for me as I had thought.


	2. Bill Loves His Horror

(Dipper’s POV)

I woke up before Mabel and Soos, so I decided to do something productive with my freetime and made breakfast for everyone. It wasn’t much, considering my culinary abilities were average at best. Just scrambled eggs, it was supposed to be omelets but that didn’t work out, with toast. I had just finished making breakfast when I heard a crash. Hesitantly, I moved to see what made the noise. It was a window in the gift shop part of the Shack. 

“Hello?” I called out to see if someone would answer, honestly hoping no one would. However, to my fright someone did answer.

“Sorry about that!” I heard someone say. Then I heard something hit a wall. It sounded like a fight was going on, but I still needed to find the light switch. Another few thumps against the wall and I was finally able to turn the light on. I could see the broken glass all over the floor beneath the window. Nothing could be seen from the window, and no one else seemed to have been bothered by the noise. That’s great, now I’m going to have to go outside to see what happened. I grabbed a flashlight from the drawer behind the counter. I rushed out of the Shack before I ran out of courage. Take deep breaths Dipper. When I looked around the side of the Shack I was hoping I wouldn’t find anything; however, tonight just didn’t seem like my kind of night. There was something on the ground moving. I almost ran back into the Shack, but forced myself to stand my ground. 

“Hello?” I called out. 

“If you don’t mind I could use some help.” Whoever it was responded. Then the person began trying to stand up. 

“Wait.” I said when I realized they were struggling just to stand up. When I got to their side I noticed they looked familiar, and when they faced me there was no doubt about it.

“Sorry about this, Pine Tree.” Bill said as he looked at me. There was blood running down his face. It was as though his face was slammed into the window and that’s what caused it to break. Please tell me that is not what happened.

“What happened to you?” I whisper in a rushed tone. 

“Can I tell you about it once we get inside? Also do I smell eggs?” Bill didn’t seemed bothered by the cuts on his face. I helped him inside and didn’t know what to do next. 

“So, what happened to you?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you the truth if you get me some of the eggs you made.” He said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes and left to give him my breakfast, and made a quick stop at the bathroom to pick up some supplies to take care of his cut. 

“Here. I’ll clean up your cuts.” I said and set the food down in front of him and pulled out some cotton balls that I poured some peroxide on. I pulled back his hair and started cleaning his cuts. They were pretty bad, but thankfully small enough band-aids would be able to cover because I didn’t have anything else. “Now tell me what happened.” I said after I finished bandaging him up. This was a little weird, and I didn’t know how to feel about it.

“Thanks.” He said after he finished my breakfast in record time. “I got into a fight with someone in the woods, and somehow we ended up here. Sorry about the window.”

“Why were you fighting someone in the woods?” I questioned.

“You know, the eggs were good, but not good enough for you to get that information.” 

“Then how about my wonderful medical treatment. I think that’s deserving of something.” Bill shrugged.

“Okay, you got me. The guy owed me some money, and I was prepared to get the money out of him one way or another. I just didn’t expect him to have a friend.” He told me. That sounds like some shady stuff. 

“I’m not going to ask for more information on that.” 

“Good choice. Now, thank you for the food, but I have to get ready for school.” Bill said and walked out the door as though this was just a normal visit. 

“Wait, are you sure you are going to be okay? With your head injury and all.” I didn’t feel comfortable with him leaving for whatever reason, and there was still almost half an hour before anyone else was going to get up. 

“Yeah, it wasn’t that bad of a hit anyways.” Bill shrugged. Starting to seem anxious to get out of this situation. 

“Okay.” I decided to let him go. I’ll be seeing him again in a few hours anyways. 

It was finally time for school. Mabel was still gloomy, but she seemed to be slowly getting back to her old outgoing self. Though in a school as small as the one in Gravity Falls there wasn’t a lot she would be able to do. All morning I was thinking about what happened with Bill. it made me very curious about those two. 

“Oh, also did you hear the crash this morning? I was sound asleep. I wonder how the window broke.” Mabel brought up the window incident. It was true that I was awake when it happened, but I wasn’t about to tell my sister what happened.

“No, I didn’t hear anything.” I lied. 

“Do you think someone broke our window on purpose?” My sister asked. 

“No, why would anyone want to do that anyways?” 

“That’s true.” She rushed to the school once we caught sight of it, her friends were just entering the building. 

“Um, hey Dipper.” I heard someone say next to me. I jumped not realizing someone had walked up next to me. “Sorry.” He mumbled. It was Will. 

“Don’t worry about it.” I said. Where’s Bill? I looked around for him, but I couldn’t find him around.

“H-here, it’s from Bill.” Will pushed a bag into my hand and refused to look at me. He seems a little tense today. I opened the bag to see what was inside, and I had no idea what would be in it. It was full of some of my favorite junk food, including Pringles. It’s been so long since I’ve had those. How would he know that I like this stuff? Now that I think about it he was in our kitchen for who knows how long. “He doesn’t like owing anyone anything, and he told me about what happened this morning.” 

“He didn’t need to give me anything.” I said embarrassed. 

“If he didn’t he would bother you until he felt you two were even.” Will answered. 

“Oh, where is Bill anyways?” I ask curiously. He did get some bad cuts on his head, and somehow I ended up worrying about him. It was probably because it happened outside of the Shack. 

“He’s staying home today.” Will said too quickly, and it was an obvious lie. I wasn’t going to push him for answers however. 

School seemed to go by incredibly slow today. For one class period the teacher didn’t even show up. Though it was supposed to be Mcgucket. How do they even consider these people good teachers? They probably don’t, and consider them good enough teachers. Mabel was talking to her friends the whole time, but I didn’t really get along too well with anyone here. Then I remembered Will was sitting alone writing something. Maybe I could try talking to him. It would give me something to do. 

“Hey, what are you doing?” I walked over and asked Will. I was startled when he quickly closed the notebook he had been writing in.

“Sorry, you surprised me.” Will said forcing a laugh. “And I was drawing. Do you want to look?” He seemed nervous but still handed me his notebook. I flipped through the first few pages to find that they were full of intricately designed pictures. Some of them looked exactly like places in Gravity Falls.

“Wow, you’re really good.” I said as I turned to the last picture. It was partially completed, and I could tell right away it was of my sister. Not going to lie, it was a little weird, but the picture seemed to capture Mabel’s personality perfectly. In the picture she was smiling and was hugging a pig. That reminded me of Waddles. Weird. 

“She told me about her pet pig before. I thought this picture might cheer her up considering…” Will didn’t need to finish his sentence, we both knew what he meant. 

“I think that will help cheer her up.” I responded. “But where did you find some of these places?” I asked. It had been a long time since I had been here and I had forgotten how to get to a lot of the nice places in the forest.

“I just walk around until I find a place I like.” Will answered. The door burst open, and everyone jumped; scared it was the teacher, but it was only Bill. Somehow he seemed to have gained bruises from this morning. 

“Where’s the teacher?” He asked disappointed. 

“Not here. He probably forgot.” Pacifica responded sassily. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me. I showed up for this?” Bill sighed before walking up to the teachers desk. “Anyone against watching people piss their pants playing video games?”

“You’re so childish.” Pacifica respond. Though I was kind of interested in it. I’ve never heard of the game, but it sounded like it was supposed to be scary. 

“Well to bad for you sweetheart, but I’ve got the password to this computer and I’m going to take advantage of that.” Bill turned on the only computer in the building and did some searching before turning on the projector. He hit play, turned off the lights. Which gained complaints from Pacifica, so he was forced to move a lamp next to her and turn it on. Then he took a spot in the front of the room; which had been empty before. Will moved to join him, and I decided to do the same. Mainly because I didn’t want to be stuck in the back alone.

“I’m surprised you decided to come today.” Will said to his brother. 

“Of course I did. Can’t start off the year with missing the second day.” Bill turned to face me. “Now you better not be a scaredy cat like my brother. I can’t console two whiny brats at once.” 

“I’ll be fine.” I told him, even though I had no idea if I would or not. At first things seemed really boring, and the game made no sense to me. All they were doing was walking around a house again and again. So eventually I just focused on the little box in the corner that showed the person playing it. They seemed to be freaking out already. What’s so scary? Then a loud noise sounded and something popped up on the screen. I jumped in surprise; I wasn’t expecting that to happen. Bill was laughing.

“You almost jumped out of your seat, Pine Tree.” 

“I wasn’t expecting the loud noise.” I scoffed. When I looked to my right where Bill was sitting with Will next to him I noticed that Will had moved his desk closer to his brother. Does Will really get scared by this kind of thing? Okay, I will admit that jump scares like that get me, but all this other stuff isn’t bothering me. 

“Will, I would have thought by now you would be able to handle stuff like this. I mean you live with me, you should be used to it.” I heard Bill whisper to his brother. Not wanting them to notice I was looking at them I looked using my peripheral vision. Will had his head buried into Bill’s shoulder. It looked awkward, but Bill didn’t seem bothered by it. He was looking expectantly at the screen. Just as I looked back at the screen there was another jump scare. This time I jumped again and the desk fell back with me. 

“Ah.” I shouted as the desk hit the ground making a loud crash. Everyone was looking at me now. Dammit, why do they have to have the desk connected to the chair. Bill was laughing quietly, and didn’t even seemed to have turned to look at me. His eyes were still fixed on the screen. Will turned his head to look at me.

“Are you okay?” He whispered. 

“Yeah.” I responded and set my desk back up. Then I looked to see how Mabel and her friends handled my embarrassing incident. All of them were staring at me and I swore that Pacifica was holding back a laugh. 

“Are you sure you are okay, Pine Tree? This might be a little too much for you to handle.” Was Bill’s snarky response. 

“I’m fine, it’s just the jump scares that get to me.” I hissed. This is not what I expected to happen when I joined them. 

“Okay, no need to get so defensive.” Bill put his hands up in a harmless gesture. 

Strangely the next teacher didn’t show up either, so the rest of the day was watching youtube videos. After that video Bill finished and Mabel rushed to the computer and put on Dan and Phil; her favorite youtubers. Then it was Candies turn to pick a video, and it ended up being the weirdest kitten video I have ever seen. It probably would give me nightmares. 

“Hey Pine Tree, are you heading to the Mystery Shack?” Bill shouted as he ran to meet me outside. 

“Yeah.” 

“Good, I’ve got a challenge for you. I’ll bring over my top two favorite horror movies and I bet you won’t be able to sit through both of them without pissing your pants. I’ll go over everything else when I get there.” Bill said and waved goodbye. Well this doesn’t sound good. I took a seat in the railing outside of the school to wait for my sister. She had still been in the classroom talking when I left. I was surprised to see her leave the building with Will. 

“Bro-bro look at what Will made me!” She jumped happily and showed me the picture Will had been working on before. He must have finished it while we were watching videos. “Isn’t he an amazing drawer!” Mabel cheered. She continued to praise the picture as we walked home, and I nodded along. Sometime after he walked out of the school Will seemed to have vanished.


	3. Dipper's Dare and Mabel's Nightmare

(Dipper’s POV)

It wasn’t as much a surprise this time that Bill made it to the Shack before Mabel and I. He had the two movies in his hand and was ready to start watching them. Somehow I felt that there was another reason why he wanted to hang out at the Shack. 

“Okay, so each movie is about two hours long. That equals four hours, you should be able to normally hold your bladder for that long, I hope.” Bill began. “So you are going to sit through both of these movies with no bathroom breaks. You better go to the bathroom now if you need to.” His smile widened. 

“You do realize I don’t even need to do this. I could just say no.” I crossed my arms, but somehow Bill didn’t seem bothered by my threat to not go through with his plan.

“Oh you will, you need to prove how brave you are after that little mishap in class today.” That’s true. It was the only reason I would ever do something as stupid as this. I don’t want him thinking I’m easy to scare.

“Point taken.” Since Soos had moved in, an extra loveseat had been added into the livingroom. I took a seat on it and waited for Bill to get the movie ready. He sat on the other side of the small couch. Making me feel a little uncomfortable. “Do you need to be that close to me?”

“I am the judge, and I need to be able to see if you’ve-” 

“I got it.” I cut him off. Mabel took a seat in the chair; which happened to be closest to Bill’s side. Which made this situation a little more awkward for me. 

“Let’s get this party started!” Mabel cheered. I knew she was only here because of Bill. She can’t handle scary movies. I wasn’t about to call her out on it however; she would get payback for it. 

“Are you sure you are up for this Star?” Bill teased. 

“Heck yes!” She smiled. “So, what are we watching first?” 

“The Cabin in the Woods.” I’ve seen that movie before. This isn’t that bad. Though, I’m still worried for Mabel. 

“What about the second one?” 

“Alien v Predator. It’s my favorite movie.” 

“I’ve never heard of it.” I said honestly. It sounded a little weird in my opinion. 

“WHAT? What is wrong with you? You’re going to love this movie.” Bill smirked. Then groaned when he wasn’t able to skip to the play section of the movie right away. “Have you ever seened Alien before?” 

“No, I’m not a big horror movie fan.”

“Then what kind of movies do you watch?” Bill was obviously upset that I didn’t find horror movies as fun as he did. 

“Adventure, I guess.” 

“I cannot believe you.” Bill whispered in frustration. 

“Star, please tell me you have at least heard of Alien v Predator.” Bill begged my sister, though I doubt she had.

“Actually I have, I’ve never seen it before, but I did see the commercials for it.” When did that happen? 

“Thank you.” Bill seemed to relax. Once the movie started playing no one spoke. 

Just as I had expected the first movie went by without really bothering me. Mabel, however, grabbed a pillow from the loveseat to cover her eyes. Bill seemed to know exactly how to calm her down when she got really scared. It must have been because Will seemed to get scared easily. Thought it made me uncomfortable that he was so close to my sister, though I didn’t interrupt. The second movie started, and I didn’t know what to think of it. 

“What the hell?” I couldn’t keep quiet when those things started popping out of people’s chests. I’m really starting to question Bill’s mental stability or maybe it’s the director's mental stability I should be questioning. 

“Shut up, Pine Tree.” Bill whacked me in the head with an almost empty popcorn bag. I refused the drink and popcorn he offered me after the first movie, and I was thankful for that. How could Bill eat through this movie? I lost all appetite I had when I saw that thing rip out of the person’s chest. 

Mabel didn’t handle the movie as well as I did and I could tell that she was most likely going to have nightmares from it. Bill still tried comforting her, and it turned into an almost full on embrace. I felt like I should have hit him in the head for that, but how could I do that when Mabel was actually calming down because of him. I was more than happy when the movie finally ended, and the two separated. That movie was a lot weirder than I had expected.

“I’m sorry about Star.” Bill said to me as he was walking out of the Shack. 

“It’s fine, when she makes up her mind to do something no one can stop her. We wouldn’t have been able to convince her to save her sanity if we tired.” I joked, but I knew she was going to have to spend the rest of the night watching happy movies to get over the trauma. 

“Well she did a lot better than Will. We watched that movie in the theater and I had to lead him out of the theater half way through the movie. Also if she has nightmares you should get her to listen to soft music; that can help sometimes. Maybe have soft music playing as she sleeps tonight.” Bill offered. 

“I’ll tell her about that.” I was surprised by how helpful Bill was being. He began walking away but paused and turned towards me.

“Also, Pine Tree, you did pretty good.” He said with a smile. Was that a compliment? I couldn’t tell, but it made me feel accomplished to have a horror obsessed person say something like that to me. 

I joined Mabel in watching comedy movies until past midnight. We had to keep our laughter down to keep from waking Soos up, but sometimes it was just too much and one of us would burst out laughing. It was a Friday night so neither of us worried about being sleep deprived the next day. Finally we ran out of movies, and it was time to go to sleep. 

“Dipper, could I possibly sleep next to you tonight.” Mabel asked embarrassed. It seems she still hasn’t completely gotten over the movies from before. 

“Sure.” I knew that either way she was going to end up in my room sometime tonight. 

“Thanks bro-bro.” She walked up to the attic to get her favorite blanket. She refused to sleep without it, even if it was ninety degrees.

We slept back to back. Mabel didn’t fall asleep right away and would continue to ask me random questions. One of them being if I thought that there were actually aliens like those in the movie. I told her no, and to stop worrying about it because even if there were, I wasn’t going to let them get to her. Her breath finally started to even out and I could tell she was asleep; yet somehow I still couldn’t fall asleep. My mind kept wandering to the other pair of twins in this town. They were complete opposites, yet somehow got along about as well as Mabel and I. Maybe I should try and talk to Pacifica about them; she seems to know quite a lot about them. I was feeling myself start to drift off when Mabel started to stir. It became apparent that it wasn’t just her adjusting when I heard her start mumbling in her sleep. Bill said that playing soft music might help with nightmares, but I was stuck against the wall. Maybe I could move my way to the end of the bed and get out that way. I knew that wouldn’t work. 

“N-no” I heard Mabel whisper in her sleep. “Leave me alone.” She was crying too. That must be a really bad dream.

“Mabel you owe me for this.” If I can’t play the music maybe if I sing it will help. This better work considering I wouldn’t sing to save my life, but I would do it to help my sister. What was her favorite song again? Neverland, or something like that. No, now I remember the name was Lost Boy. I can’t believe I am going to do this. Mabel you better appreciate this. How did it begin again? I shook my head before beginning. 

“There was a time, when I was alone. Nowhere to go, and no place to call home. My only friend was the man in the moon” I could tell that she was starting to calm down. I didn’t expected it to help that quickly. “and even sometimes he would go away too.” I feel so stupid doing this. “Then one night; as I closed my eyes, I saw a shadow flying high. He came to me with the sweetest smile. Told me he wanted to talk for awhile. He said: “Petter Pan. that’s what they call me. I promise that you’ll never be lonely.”” Thankfully Mabel had gone back to a peaceful sleep and I didn’t need to begin the chorus. 

Somehow I fell asleep, and yet still woke up before Mabel. I swear at this rate I’ll be sleep deprived all year. Still, I was stuck on the bed and would have to wait for Mabel to wake up. This sleeping arrangement wasn’t thoroughly planned out. Hoping that I would be able to fall asleep again, I closed my eyes and tried to stop thinking. It didn’t work and I laid there until my sister finally woke up. 

“What time is it?” She yawned. 

 

“I don’t know.” I responded, fully awake. She pushed herself off the bed and I was more than happy to get up. 

“What are we going to do today?” Mabel asked while she yawned. 

“We have to run the gift shop today while Soos is out, remember?” It was what we came here to do. Soos was making most of the plans on what to do with all of our great uncles stuff. He was planning on keeping most of it, but some of it he just couldn’t hold onto. 

“Oh yes, that.” Mabel didn’t seem to cheer up much when she found out today wasn’t going to be very action filled. Hopefully not a lot of people show up so we can relax all day. 

“Thank you so much guys for all you are doing.” Soos said as he was about to leave. 

“No problem.” I mumbled.

“Of course we would help you out, you’re like family.” Mabel added over me. Soos walked out the door and right away Mabel and I relaxed. Today was already a slow day, so neither of us were worried about anything interesting happening.


	4. I Get a Date?

(Dipper’s POV)

 

It had only been an hour since Soos had left that anyone entered the Shack, and I was surprised to see it was Bill and Will. I was even more surprised to see that Will was actually smiling and didn’t look like his usual nervous self.

“Hey guys.” I greeted them. 

“Hey!” Mabel shouted over me.

“How are you doing, Star?” Bill asked.

“Great.” She said with a smile. 

“That’s good to hear. I was scared those movies had been a little too much for you.” 

“Hah as if!” She stood tall with her hands on her hips to emphasize how strong she was.

“And how did your night go Pine Tree?” Bill turned to face me with a smirk, and a glint in his eye I couldn’t quite describe.

“Fine.” I told him. Not knowing what he was expecting. 

“Well if you two aren’t too busy would you like to join us?” Bill offered.

“Join you in what?” I asked. With Bill I didn’t know if I should be worried or not, but Will was going to be there so it couldn’t be anything bad. 

“We’re just going to be taking a walk around the forest. Will wants to find a new place where he can draw.” I looked to Mabel, her smile and excitement made it obvious she would be heartbroken if we didn’t go. 

“I guess we could be gone a little while.” 

“Yes!” Mabel cheered. “One second.” She said and ran out of the room; probably to get her camera. My sister has a knack for photography. 

“So, Pine Tree-” Bill began as he leaned on the counter. At first he missed the counter and almost fell. It took a lot for me not to laugh, but I was still smiling. 

“Let’s go!” Mabel said happily. Interrupting Bill; whatever he was going to say he wasn’t going to say it anymore. 

“Lady’s first.” Bill said as he opened the door for my sister; who blushed uncontrollably. Bill held the door open for Will to leave too, but when I was about to walk out the door he quickly closed it so he was outside looking in. He stuck his tongue out at me before walking away. I rolled my eyes before opening the door. Normally I wouldn’t find something so childish funny, but I couldn’t stop smiling. It was a weird feeling, but I liked it. When I got outside I had expected everyone to already be almost to the forest, but Bill had waited for me. 

“Real mature.” I said to Bill. 

“Well I’m known for being the mature one.” Bill responded. I heard a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “So, Pine Tree, as I was saying before; I know this really great place in this forest, do you want to go there with me while those two wander around?” 

“Are you sure that would be a good idea? They could get lost.” I offered. I couldn’t let anything happen to my sister. 

“I trust Will; he’s too smart to get lost.” It did sound tempting. I’ve never really explored a lot of the forest around here when I was younger. I’d always get scared too easily and run back to the Shack. But wouldn’t Mabel be upset. The only reason she wanted to go was to spend more time with Bill. “I can tell you want to say yes, so let’s just go.” Bill whispered to me. Mabel gets along with Will. I mean they both are so far into their art projects they probably won’t even notice our absence. 

“Okay.” I responded unsure whether that was the right choice, but all I could do now was follow Bill and hope he doesn't get us lost. 

Our path to this place Bill was talking about was almost all uphill. I was surprised to see him carefully climb the rocks we had been standing in front of; it looked as though a long time ago there was a landslide that piled all of those rocks up the hill. He turned to see if I was following him, but I had stopped in my tracks. There is no way I can climb up there. Sure the rocks only went up a short way, but they weren’t the best climbing rocks, and Bill was pretty clumsy. What if he falls? 

“Pine Tree, we’re almost there!” He sat down on the boulder he had just climbed. “It’s actually really easy, and these rocks are stable. I’ve climbed them at least twenty times and not once have they moved.” I slowly shook my head before following him. 

Once we made it to the top I was pretty shaken up. I had slipped a few times, but every time Bill had caught me. He looked at me with an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry about that. We can take a different way back.” He offered. 

“Thank you.” I said; climbing really isn’t for me. Now that we were on top of the rocks the ground leveled off with them and a wide hole opened up into a large cavern. “Wow.” I started looking around it. It looked natural, not a result of explosives. This must have taken forever to form. “How far back does it go?”

“I haven’t explored the whole thing yet, but there is one part I think you will like.” Bill said with a smile. He started leading me into the cave. It descended so slightly we were able to keep our footing for the most part. Bill had slipped and fell back, so I caught him. Or he more fell onto me and I held him from falling. “Sorry about that.” He said and I started hearing a concerning noise. Was that squeaking? 

“What’s making that noise?” I asked. Bill had brought a flashlight so we would be able to see, and he pointed it to the top of the cavern. Bats, lots and lots of bats. He quickly moved the light away from them. 

“What did you expect?” He said and shrugged his shoulders. Normally bats didn’t bother me, but when there were hundreds above your head you start getting nervous. 

“Where are we going?” I didn’t know how this place could be worth while. It was covered in guano and there were bats that could decide to drop from the ceiling at any time. 

“You’re so impatient.” Was all he said. From the light leading the way I could tell that the walls were closing in on us. Soon enough we had no choice but to walk sideways. None of this bothered Bill, but I wasn’t so sure what to expect. Finally our path opened up to a large chamber. I was surprised to see that there were pictures on the walls. 

“How did you find this?” I said in amazement. Without thinking too much about my actions I took the flashlight from Bill and started looking at the hieroglyphs. They told a story, but I couldn’t make out all the pictures; the water covering the walls had slowly washed away some of the pictures. I should have brought my notebook!! I could have drawn these down and tried to figure them out. Then I quickly stopped focusing on the pictures themselves. Most hieroglyphs aren’t found this deep in a cave. If someone wanted people to know about them they would have drawn these at the opening. I heard Bill quietly laugh. 

“I knew you would like this place.” He said. While I was looking at the hieroglyphs Bill had taken a seat in the middle of the chamber where a small circle of light surrounded him. There was a small opening in the top of this chamber. I noticed he was sitting on a blanket he must have put down a long time ago. There was also a small bag that looked like it was newer, considering it wasn’t damp. “But you still haven’t gotten to the good part.” He told me as he laid down. 

“What do you mean?”

“Keep looking around the wall.” Was all he told me. I did as he said. The simple hieroglyphs started taking a weird turn. Then I noticed what Bill must have been talking about. There were holes in the walls; evenly spread out. Could that have been where they put torches? I had almost completely circled the room when the evenly spread out holes stopped. This picture was bigger than the rest. It was hard to make out what it was in such dim lighting, but I could make out small rectangles that made their own pictures. 

Once I was done making my way around the room I took a seat next to Bill. He was facing towards the big picture. Thinking that maybe I would be able to see it from our spot in the middle of the room I shone the flashlight on it, but I still couldn’t make out the whole thing.

“So, what do you make of this place?” Bill asked me with a confident smirk.

“It’s amazing. How did you find it?” I asked.

“I don’t really know, I just felt drawn to this place I guess. Kind of like how I’m drawn to you.” I turned to look at Bill to ask him what he meant when his lips met mine. It only lasted a second, and I was still too surprised to think of what to do as he pulled away. I surprised even myself when I pulled him back. This was probably the worse thing I could do; I’m kissing the guy Mabel likes! But I couldn’t bring myself to stop. It was as though this was something I had been longing for since before I could remember. I just hope Mabel will forgive me for this. 

When we finally stopped kissing the whole cave had gotten dark, except for the little ray of light from the flashlight. Where had the sun gone? I looked up to find dark clouds blocking out the sunlight. It looked like it was about to rain. 

“Looks like it is going to rain soon.” Bill said as he saw the dark clouds too.

“We should go before it starts raining.” I said and started getting up. Bill didn’t move to get up. He seemed to be in a trance. “Bill?” I nudged him to try and get him to move, but he kept looking up with a blank look. Finally, I gave up on that and sat in front of him and forced him to look at me. He had a tear leaving a trail down his face. “What’s wrong?” I asked concerned. What happened? 

“Nothing. You’re right, we should get going.” Bill said and moved to stand up now. I pushed him back down. 

“We aren’t leaving until you explain.” Bill looked at me for a long time. I could see more tears starting to form in his eye. “Bill please.” He started smiling and his emotions seemed to completely change.

“I’ll tell you if you promise to go on an official date with me.” He wiped away the tear and smirked at me. “Deal?” He held out his hand for me to shake. I shouldn’t do this, but it was a win-win. I’ll have to find a way to explain this to Mabel later. 

“Deal.” I said and shook his hand. 

“The truth is that I have a lot of bad memories attached to rain.” He said instantly.   
“Now then, is there any movies you want to go see?” He smirked at me and we started leaving the cave chamber. Sometime I am going to have to go back here with a bunch of flashlights to see what the hieroglyphs mean. 

(Mabel’s POV)

 

“Look at those adorable woodland creatures!” I quietly shouted to Will. There was a family of squirrels running through a tree. I could tell he saw them because he started drawing quickly. 

“Mabel stop.” I heard Will whispered and did as he said. When I turned back to him he was looking right ahead. I turned to see what he was looking at and found that we were within ten feet of a doe and her fawn. They were watching us watching them. After a few minutes of a stare down they walked off. 

“Oh my god! Did you see that Dipper?!” I shouted only to find that my brother was nowhere to be seen. “Huh, where did he go?” I asked Will; I then noticed that Bill was gone too. 

“A while back Bill and Dipper walked off in another direction.” Will responded sheepishly. 

“Where did they go?” I asked confused. I thought we all were going to be walking through the forest. It kind of takes the fun out of this if Bill isn’t here. 

“Um, well. . .” Will started, but trailed off. 

“What?” I immediately knew he was keeping something from me. What are they doing?

“Well, Bill wanted to get some alone time with Dipper.” Will told me. 

“Why?” I asked. Is there something going on between them that I don’t know? That can’t be. Dipper tells me everything. We’re twins! Even if he didn’t tell me I would figure out eventually. 

“I know you like Bill, but I can tell you right now you will get nowhere with him.” Will said and looked away nervously. 

“What do you mean?” I could tell Will was getting uncomfortable now. 

“Bill isn’t, well, he doesn’t really like, girls.” Will told me. Then things started to make sense to me. That’s why Bill wanted alone time with Dipper. He likes him. I started smiling like an idiot. 

“AHHHHH!” I screamed happily. Will flinched away and looked like he couldn’t tell if I was happy or mad. Then I quickly changed attitudes. “If your brother is going to date my brother he is going to have to pass my tests.” I said sternly. Will smiled at me.

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to hear that.” He said sarcastically. 

“Now first things first, we need to find our brothers. Bill needs to learn the rules of dating my brother before he gets anywhere with him.” I sternly stated. “I’m guessing you know where they went?” 

“Well yeah, but I don’t think we should interrupt them.” 

“What are you talking about? This is the perfect time to interrupt them!” I said cheerfully. I’m happy I brought my camera.


	5. My Sister Plays a Spy, and Almost Dies in the Process

(Mabel’s POV)

Will lead me through the forest until we reached the opening of a cave. He glanced at me nervously before I rushed into the cave. There was squeaks coming from the ceiling and I could only guess that there were bats above us. 

“Aww the foxes of the sky!” I cooed. We hadn’t brought any flashlights with us, but my camera should be good enough. Its got a night vision setting that was helping me through the cave. Will was holding on tightly to my shirt sleeve so he wouldn’t get lost. 

“Don’t you think it would make more sense to wait for them outside of the cave?” He offered. 

“No! I need blackmail material.” It would be helpful for whenever I need to convince Dipper to help me the next time I need him. Maybe it would work on Bill too? Who knows?! But I need it! 

“You’re evil.” Will whispered. 

“And don’t you forget it!” I jumped around to face him and poked my finger to his chest. He stared at me for a few moments in shock. I was about to turn around when I heard a difference in the bats. They were making more noise now. “What’s going on?” I asked Will. 

“I think the bats are going to be leaving soon. We should get out of here before they all start flying at once.” He said urgently. Will started heading for the exit, but I started running farther into the cave. I didn’t stop to see if he had noticed and started following me. 

I didn’t stop running until it was pitch black, and the only way I could see where I was going was the screen of my camera. I went in circles to see if Will was by me, but there was no one. It bothered me a little knowing I am alone, but maybe now I am closer to Bill and Dipper; no sense turning back now. I hadn’t gone much further until I started hearing something more concerning than bats. Rumbling. 

“Well that doesn’t sound good.” I whispered to myself. It steadily grew louder until I could tell the source was from behind me, and not to far at that. I didn’t move until it was quiet again, silently hoping that it was something that was going on outside of the cave. 

(Dipper’s POV)

“Did you hear that?” I asked Bill as we were making our way out of the cave. Bill had decided to take his bag with him, and now that it was right in my face the smell was getting to me. There was no doubt about it, he left that bag in the cave regularly.

“Yeah, didn’t sound good. Sounds like another part of the cave has caved in. That’s been happening alot lately.” Bill said suspiciously. “But it sounded like it came from one of the other connecting tunnels, so it shouldn’t cause us any trouble.” He added on a positive note. 

“There are more tunnels?” This place has to be bigger than I first thought. 

“Of course. I just haven’t gotten around to exploring them all, and I wasn’t about to take you someplace I thought of as dangerous. Most of this cave is stable, but there are parts that are questionable. Not to mention weird things can happen in here.” 

“What kind of weird things?” I asked. That had caught my attention. Weird things were what made waking up worthwhile to me. I’m a sucker for legends, conspiracy theories, and any other strange stories that are out there. 

“Nothing, I was just messing with you.” Bill added, not very convincingly at that, but I wasn’t about to push him for answers. 

When we made it to the mouth of the cave we were happy to find that all the bats had left already. That was until I realized how late it had gotten. Soos is going to be so worried. We left without even leaving a note! On top of that it had started raining. 

“Bill! Did you see Mabel?” Will said as he ran into the cave. “We came here to meet up with you and we got here just as the bats were leaving. I ran out of the cave, but Mabel didn’t join me. She must have run deeper into the cave.” It was obvious he was scared for her safety, but he was nowhere near being my level of scared. If Mabel’s in this cave, then she might be trapped. That cave in that just happened. I so hope she didn’t get stuck in it. 

“We didn’t see her.” Bill said softly. Probably realizing the same thing I did. She could be in serious trouble. “Do you know the direction she was heading?” Bill asked his brother.

“Not really.” Will answered. “But she didn’t really know where to go, so she might have just gone straight back.” Now that Will had brought that up, the opening Bill and I went down was to the left of the cave. There’s more tunnels that branch off of this place? For a second I could see that Bill was hesitant.

“You two head for the Mystery Shack. I’m sure we’ll make it back sometime tonight.” Bill didn’t seem very sure of himself. 

“That’s my sister. I’m not going to leave here until I know she’s okay.” 

“Dipper, that part of the cave is dangerous.” Bill looked right at me as he said that. 

“All the more reason I need to help you find my sister.” I wasn’t going to give up, but it looked like Bill was thinking the same thing. 

“I’ll go back to town. If I don’t see you by tomorrow morning I’ll get help, okay?” Will offered. Bill looked at his brother in shock. I don’t know why he was so surprised by that; it only made sense that one of us go back, and since it wasn’t going to be me or him it had to be Will. 

“Are you sure you’re okay with that?” Bill asked. There seemed to be a hidden question within the one he asked. One that only they would understand. 

“Of course.” Will said with a smile. 

“We should get going.” I started pulling Bill farther into the cave. He carefully watched his brother leave. Once Will was out of sight he turned back and started leading the way. 

“The flashlight might go out.” Bill said just before it started flickering. “This is the part where the weird stuff happens.” 

“What do you mean? What happens here?” 

“I’m not sure exactly. Not yet at least.” The flashlight flickered again, but it didn’t go out. Maybe the batteries are just bad. 

“Hey! Is anyone there?!” I heard a voice that sounded like a panicked whisper. Mabel! Bill started running towards the source ahead of me. We came upon the worse case scenario. A full cave in, and Mabel was stuck on the other side. 

“How are we going to get her out?” 

“Dipper, I want you to ask her a question only she would be able to answer before we start moving these rocks.” Bill didn’t seem to be messing around, but the idea was absurd. Why would I have to do that? Wait, could this have something to do with the weird things? 

“Like what?” I didn’t know what to ask her. 

“I don’t know, how about her first crush or something like that.” 

“It’s Norman, that really weird guy constantly had jam on his face.” She shouted from the other side.

“That’s true.” I nodded. Bill nodded in response and started testing the wall. All of the rocks seemed to be tightly packed together. There was no way we are going to be able to get her out of here. 

“Um, guys? There’s something heading towards me.” Mabel sounded scared. 

“Can you see it? What does it look like?!” Bill started to quicken his movements, but there was no way we were going to make it. 

“It’s glowing.”

“Glowing?” Bill repeated. “What color is it?” He asked. As if that matters.

“Why does that matter?” I asked, Bill just hushed me.

“I-It’s blue.” 

“How big is it?” 

“Maybe, football sized. Wait, it’s a spider.” Mabel said confused. I broke out in goosebumps. A spider the size of a football; I’m so thankful my sister doesn’t have arachnophobia like I do. 

“How long have you been stuck back here?” Bill asked. I gave up trying to follow him. 

“Like, five minutes. That thing is getting closer. Can’t you get me out of here?” My sister pleaded. 

“I think I have an idea, but it’s going to take some courage. You need to get the spider to bite you. Don’t ask why, just do it. I promise nothing bad will happen.” 

“Get it to bite me? How?” 

“It shouldn’t be hard, the cave in probably bothered it. Just stick your hand in front of it.”

 

“What? You want my sister to let a spider bite her? It could be poisonous!” 

“First of all, it’s venomous, and secondly, I know it isn’t venomous because I’ve been bitten by one before.” 

“Well, if you say so.” Mabel said. 

“Mabel! Don’t do it!” I shouted. I wasn’t about to let her willingly get bit by a spider, but there was nothing I could do but shout to her. 

“Pine Tree, she’ll be fine.” Bill said with a reassuring smile. 

“Aww it’s so fluffy. The biting idea didn’t work. This spider’s letting me pet it, and it’s so fluffy!” My sister shouted back to us. 

“She really does have a thing with nature, doesn’t she.” Bill said with a smile that was something between upset and happy. “Star, you need to get that spider to bite you quickly.” 

“Fine! Come on little spider. I need your help.” I heard my sister speaking to the spider as though it was a dog. “Ow, that didn’t hurt as badly as I thought it would.” This time Mabel sounded closer. “Huh? Whoa.” Mabel was standing a few feet behind us. All I could do was stare. What just happened? “Sweet!” Mabel cheered as she realized the spider bite did exactly what it was supposed to. Somehow help her get out of that section of the cave, but how?

“What just happened?” I turned to Bill, who didn't seem at all surprised by this. 

“From what I can tell those spiders’ bites take you about fifteen minutes back in time. Mabel, can I look at your camera?” I hadn't even noticed the camera in her hand until now. Honestly, I was too shocked to care about something so small. Bill placed the flashlight under his chin, and uncomfortably held it in place against his chin while he grabbed his phone. “Was your time on the camera always fifteen minutes slow?” He asked. 

“No, I'd alway make sure that the time was correct.” Otherwise she would be out all night with her camera. She made sure to keep track of the time using her camera; she had gotten a little carried away a few times and our parents ended up calling the police one time because she was gone for so long. So my sister was very careful not to let that happen again. Bill inspected the camera for a few more seconds before handing it back to my sister. 

“Well, I’m just happy my idea worked.” Bill said happily, as my sister took her camera back. 

“What just happened?” I asked Bill. 

“I told you. Weird things happen here.” 

“That’s not weird; that’s impossible.” 

“Dipper, let’s focus on getting back to the Shack first. It’s almost eight.” Mabel interrupted. Soos is going to be really worried. Bill didn’t say anything else as he lead us out of the cave. Now that I was thinking about it; it was quite surprising how easily he is walking through this place. Normally he is running into things and tripping, but even with the slick cave floor he’s walking as though he has walked this route hundreds of times.

We split up once we got out of the cave. Bill insisted he needed to find Will even though we asked him to come with us to the Shack. There was a distant sound of thunder and I knew it wasn’t going to be long until the lightning got here.


	6. We Get a Visit

(Dipper’s POV)

 

Mabel and I made it to the Shack in record time. Whether it was the fear of Soos’ scolding or the rain I couldn’t tell. Mabel was just happy she found a place to put her camera where it wouldn’t get wet. Which happened to be under her sweater. Yet one more reason for her to love her sweaters. 

 

“Soos, we’re back.” I called as we entered the Shack. Surprisingly, we didn’t get a response. Mabel and I shared a glance. We quickly checked our phones; neither of us had any missed calls. I decided to check the landline. No missed messages. 

 

“Where is he?” Mabel asked. That was the same question I was thinking. 

 

“Maybe he’s late?” I offered. Though, it’s strange he didn’t call us to let us know. 

 

“Yeah.” My sister agreed. 

 

Without anything else to do we sat and watched some movies after changing into dry clothes. After the first movie we both relaxed. I looked out the window for a second to see that the rain had gotten worse, and with the lights flickering every once in awhile Mabel and I had set up candles around the Shack. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to find any battery powered lanterns, so the candles were all we could use in case the power went out. 

 

“Do you think Bill made it back into town before things got really bad?” I ended up asking out loud.

 

“Of course, you know how fast he is.” Mabel reassured me. “Now then, about you two.” She wiggled and eyebrow at me. “What happened while you were in the cave?” 

 

“Nothing.” I said quickly, too quickly. 

 

“Oh really? Are you sure that’s the answer you want to go with? All I’d have to do is ask Will or even Bill. I bet one of them would tell me.” 

 

“Bill would not do that.” I said, unsure of my response. 

 

“Oh come on!” Mabel began to plead.

 

“Fine, nothing really happened though. We just kissed, and he, well, asked me on a date.” I gave in. 

 

“Yes! You better have said yes!” Mabel jumped up and down with excitement. 

 

“Well, yeah I did.” I was surprised to see my sister so happy to hear the news. I had thought for sure she liked Bill, and that it would break her heart to hear this. 

 

“When? where? I’m helping you get ready for your date. No getting out of it.”

 

“I thought you liked BIll?” I decided to ask; maybe I got it wrong.

 

“Well Will told me about how Bill liked you; that’s why he took you to the cave in the first place, so I just got really excited for you. I mean you’ve never had a boyfriend before; being as antisocial as you are.” 

 

“I’m not antisocial.” 

 

“Yeah, you are.” Just as Mabel said that the power went out. “Awww, come on!” She complained. We made our rounds and lit all of the candles. Being careful not to knock any of them over as we made our way back to the living room.

 

“When do you think Soos will be back?” I asked Mabel; knowing she wouldn’t have the answer. Both of us were concerned about him, but since there wasn’t anything we could do but wait for him to get back, we didn’t want to bring it up. 

 

“I don’t know.” She answered.

 

We sat in silence for some time. The only sounds were that of the pelting rain and ticking of the clock, along with the occasional thunder. Sometime during the night we fell asleep. A loud knock woke us up in the morning. Thankfully the Shack didn’t burn down and the candles burned out harmlessly. Neither of us rushed to the door. I was the one who got stuck with the job of answering it because Mabel refused to get up. It was only five in the morning on the weekend. 

 

“Hello?” I asked as I opened the door. I was in shock when I saw men in uniform standing at the door. It was Sheriff Blubs and and Deputy Durland; both of them had clearly aged. What are they doing here?

 

“See I knew we’d find them here.” Deputy Durland chimed. 

 

“Is your sister here? I think you both would want to hear this.” Sheriff Blubs was being formal, and it made me uncomfortable. 

 

“I’ll go get her.” I said and went to the living room to get Mabel. “Mabel, Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland are here.” As I said that she hopped off the chair she had been lying in. 

 

“Why are they here?” She rushed to the door; I was right behind her. Sheriff Blubs began to speak.

 

“During the storm last night Soos got into an accident. He’s in the hospital now, but will be being moved to a more capable hospital tonight.” Mabel and I shared a look. “We’ll give you a ride to the hospital to visit him, if you would like.”

 

“Yes.” Mabel and I said in unision. 

 

The trip there seemed to take forever. Neither of the police officers had much more to say about Soos’ condition, so neither of us knew what to expect. It couldn’t be good if he was being moved to another hospital. Though, it did give me a weird feeling riding in the back of a police car, but Soos had been driving the only car we had. We probably wouldn’t see it again. The second Sheriff Blubs opened the back door Mabel and I shot out. When we rushed into the emergency room the man sitting at the desk didn’t need our names to know who we were visiting, Soos was probably the only person in the emergency room considering how small this town is. The fact it did have a hospital was a miracle. 

 

“Room three.” He said and pointed to the door to his left. I pushed through the door and walked down the hall until I reached room three. A nurse was in the room changing the saline bag. 

 

“I’ll be done in a second, sorry.” She said. I hadn’t seen her around the town before; she must have moved here recently. 

 

“Don’t worry about it.” I looked at Soos. He had wrapping all the way around his head. “What’s his condition?” I asked. 

 

“He has a serious skull fracture. Were transferring him to the nearest hospital that specializes in his kind of situation later today.” She added. Then I saw her eyes widen and she gasped. “Your hat, do you wear it often?” 

 

“Recently, yes.” I didn’t know why she was asking about that. I was hoping she would elaborate on why she asked that question but she quickly went back to what she was doing. “Why do you ask?” At this moment I was more focused on her than Soos. 

 

“Oh, I just heard a few things about you from a coworker.” She answered. Who would be talking about me in this hospital? 

 

“Who’s that?” I asked. 

 

“Bill, he said he met you at school.” She wasn’t telling me all the things he said about me; I could pick up on that.

 

“Bill? He works here?” How is that possible? Don’t you need a degree or something to work at a hospital? You need to have some form of training at least. Though with how clumsy he is I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten himself killed here with all of the needles and drugs.

 

“He doesn’t do much. Basically organizes things and makes sure everything is cleaned up properly.” I still found it hard to believe with how clumsy he is. 

 

“Is he going to be okay?” Mabel interrupted our conversation with a very important question. 

 

“I would count on it.” The nurse nodded. I felt bad I didn’t ask her name, but I looked at her name tag, Clarissa. 

 

“Thank you.” I said and went to stand by Mabel. 

 

“Why does our luck seem to be so crappy?” She asked. 

 

“I don’t know.” There was nothing I could say to explain it. Bad things were happening to us. First Stan and Ford die; now Soos is in the hospital. What are we going to do now? If our parents find out what happened they will make us go back, but we just got here. We can make it through the year, can’t we?

 

We spent almost an hour there in silence. There was a short chat about what we were going to tell our parents. We decided it would be best to tell them later. See how things are going to pan out before we worry them too much. 

 

After that, we decided to walk around town some; we were here already anyways. There was a lot of happy memories in this small town, and a lot of weird ones. That night when we had this strange trick or treater following us around; that one trip through the forest that Mabel and I took that made both of us promise not to wander around in there again. Since that day we never wandered off the path again. Until yesterday that is. We were older now and realized that the scary things we had seen in the forest weren’t real, or maybe they were. With what happened to Mabel in the cave I’m not so sure anymore. 

 

“I need some pie.” Mabel said as we were walking past the diner. She looked at the building sadly since neither of us had brought any money. We had just started moving on when I realized someone was walking towards us. The blonde hair and tripping over a curb gave away who it was before I could even see his eyepatch. 

 

“Hey Pine Tree, Star.” He said happily. “What are you doing here?” We glanced at each other. 

 

“Soos’s in the hospital. He was in a car crash.” Bill looked shocked to hear the news. That was kind of surprising considering how fast gossip travels here.

 

“Is he going to be okay?” He rushed to ask. 

 

“Of course he is.” Mabel said cheerfully. She must be telling herself that to make things easier. Though the nurse did say she believes he will be fine, so we have to at least think positively.

 

“That’s good news.” Bill looked relieved. “Actually, that’s a little strange. I was heading to the hospital right now.” 

 

“Do you really work there?” I questioned. It was still hard for me to believe, and now would be the perfect time to ask him about it.

 

“Oh, well it’s not really official. I just help out here and there.” He explained. 

 

“What do you mean ‘it’s not really official’?” He got nervous. I could tell he was avoiding the obvious. “So you don’t really work there legally, do you?” 

 

“Of course not, but at least I am able to help out and get paid.” He explained in a hostile voice. 

 

“How much do you get paid?” 

 

“Why is that any of your business?” It was hard to believe that just yesterday we had gotten along so well. 

 

“You’d get paid more if you had a job legally, at least then there’s the minimum wage they have to pay you.” I explained; trying to keep my voice from showing my frustration. 

 

“If I could, I would.” Bill said before stomping off. I watched him go and wondered what he meant. ‘If I could, I would.’ Why wouldn’t he be able to get a job? 

 

“Whoa, what did I miss between you two?” Mabel finally spoke. 

 

“Nothing. I don’t know why he was acting like that.” 

 

“Why did you have to go off on him asking him all of those questions?” I looked at Mabel questioningly. 

 

“What do you mean?” 

 

“You were basically interrogating him. I would have gotten defensive too.” I hadn’t even realized I had been asking a lot of personal questions until Mabel brought that up. 

 

“What do we even know about him? I mean just a few nights ago he got his head smashed into the window of the Mystery Shack. Now I find out he ‘works’ at the hospital. We don’t even know where he lives.” 

 

“Wait, that’s why the window’s broken? Why didn’t you tell us?” I wanted to hit myself for saying that. I hadn’t told Mabel nor Soos about that.

 

“Because it was weird, and it’s not like that would fix the window or anything.” I tried to explain. Mabel didn’t seem to believe it. 

 

“Yes, that is very weird.” She agreed. “Which is all the more reason that you should have told us.” She went on to explain. “What was he even doing out there anyways? Who was he fighting with?”

 

“I don’t know, he wouldn’t tell me.” We had continued walking until we reached the gas station where we met the blue haired Bill, also known as Will. 

 

“Maybe we could ask Will?” Mabel said and laughed. “Hey!” She shouted and waved. Will seemed to tense up at the sight of her. 

 

“Hi, I’m sorry about what happened.” He said quickly as though she was going to be mad at him. 

 

“Don’t worry about it. I’m alright, Dipper’s alright, you're alright. Everyone’s alright.” Mabel said happily. “Now I have a few questions I would like to ask you, I hope that’s okay.” She added. 

 

“What are they?” Will didn’t know just how serious those questions were going to be. 

 

“Where do you live? I mean really live. I checked out the apartments Bill said you lived in and they are abandoned.” Mabel said seriously. It was strange to see her this serious. Will looked like he was about to drop the bags he was carrying and run for it. Which didn’t make things better for him. 

 

“We really do live there.” He said; still looking scared. 

 

“That’s impossible.” Mabel explained. “Soos told me that those places are death traps. Nothing other than rats could live there.”

 

“Well, then I guess Bill and I are rats.” Will said more serious now. Mabel was about to counter again when I stopped her. 

 

“You really live there?” I asked. Will nodded slowly.

 

“Who would want to live there?” Mabel interrupted.

 

“We don’t, but we don’t really have enough money to live anywhere else.” 

 

“What about your parents?” Before I even finished what I said Will turned around and started walking away. Quickly. He had turned down into an alleyway with Mabel and I right behind him, but as we turned into the same alleyway there was no one there. I ran through thinking that maybe he just made it around the other corner, even though that would have been impossible. As I had expected there was no one there. 

 

“Dipper. What?” My sister didn’t seem to know exactly what to ask, and I didn’t know the answer. Will must have gone somewhere, but there wasn’t anything down this alleyway; that I could see at least. 

 

“I don’t know.” I said as I walked back to her. This is too weird, and we aren’t getting any real answers from either of them. 

 

We decided it would be in our best interest if we stopped thinking about what happened today and just went back to the Shack. The walk seemed to be taking forever, and I was happy to be able to see the Shack again. Though, there was someone waiting for us outside. It was Bill, and he was pacing back and forth. As we got closer he started walking towards us. I was getting an uneasy feeling about this, but it was too late to do anything. Once Bill got close enough to me he punched me in the face, and I fell wondering what happened. 

“If you are going to be asking questions, ask me, and leave Will alone.” He said sternly. Mabel looked about ready to try and fight him. “Star, I would stay out of this. Normally I try not to hit girls.” He said calmly. She looked mad, but also confused. I was too. Things changed so quickly it was dizzying. 

 

“Then why don’t you answer my questions instead of leaving.” 

 

“Because not all of your questions deserve answers.” With that he left. I stood up, there was a short moment of dizziness, but I made it inside the Shack with Mabel and locked the door. What is going on? Why are they getting so defensive?

 

“Are you okay?” Mabel asked me.

“Yeah.” I answered. Though, I didn’t feel okay. It hurt me more than just physically to get punched by Bill. On top of that we were going to have to spend tomorrow sitting in the same classroom as him all day. I wonder what is going to happen then.


	7. Have You Seen Bill?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how quickly these events will be going, but once I get the plot set up things will start slowing down again.

(Dipper's POV)

Everything was going fine until Mabel and I started heading out for school. Since the car was totaled, and probably would never be road worthy again we had to walk. I wasn't very happy about it; only because it gave me more time to worry about what Bill will do. Mabel was humming a happy song as she skipped next to me. It was as though none of these sad things could touch her, I was always jealous of her at times like these. 

"Are you still going on that date with Bill?" She suddenly asked. I looked away from her and focused on the path ahead of us. 

"I don't know." I didn't even know if Bill still wants to go on a date with me. Not that I was still planning on going with on a date with him. He did punch me. Though I couldn't help but feel there was a reason both of them were so tight lipped about their lives. Bill was working at the hospital, and for some reason fought someone outside of the Mystery Shack. I couldn't help but feel it might be related. If he worked at the hospital he could get his hands on drugs he could sell and make money off of. Wait, what am I thinking? Bill wouldn't do something like that, would he?

"You better. I have your outfit planned and everything." Mabel smiled as she spoke in a firm tone. We finally made it into town. It was pretty empty as usual; which always made it feel like a ghost town; though, it was a comfortable one. Not one that gave you an eerie feeling.

"Do you think I'll be able to speak with him?" I asked; even though I knew it was a dumb question. 

"Duh, last time only four of the eight teachers even showed up. I don't know how it's still considered a school." 

"True." I laughed as I remembered the hours we spent watching videos in class. That didn't make me feel better however. Would Bill even want to talk to me? The school building was in front of us before I could finish my thoughts on what I should say to him. None of them involved apologizing; he punched me and I didn't feel the need to apologize for being curious. 

We sat down in class and waited for the few other students to show up. Pacifica sat next to Mabel and they started chatting instantly. Grenda and Candy walked in later. They took Mabel's attention and I heard a huff from Pacifica as she moved to sit next to me.

"Your sister is too easily distracted." She complained. 

"Yeah, she is." I agreed, and laughed as Pacifica pouted. 

"Though I heard some interesting gossip about you and Bill." She teased. I started getting nervous thinking someone had mentioned Bill asking me out, but no one other than us and our twins would know about that. That is if Bill told Will about what happened. "Is it true you two got in a fight?" I was able to relax as she said that.

"Kind of." It wasn't so much of a fight as me getting knocked to the ground.

"What happened?" Pacifica seemed really interested in the topic, and I was about to change it as the teacher walked in. As I expected the only teacher of the day to be on time was  Mr. Strange. Pacifica went to sit closer to Mabel as she realized talking to me would be a little harder with him here. Even in an informal school as this one I still wanted to pay attention.

A few minutes after the class started Will walked in. He looked like a wreck. It didn't look like he got any sleep last night, and I was surprised he was late. That seemed more like something Bill would do. He took a seat in the back of the classroom. Strangely, most of the class had migrated to the front, including myself and my sister. Every so often I would glance back at him, and every time he was drawing something in his sketchbook. 

The day seemed to drag on as every teacher seemed to be showing up today. Leading everyone to be disappointed. We actually had to do something; though, most of the classes were just lectures which most people ignored anyways. Once the last bell of the day rang I rushed to the back of the room to talk to Will. Bill never showed up.

"Where's Bill?" I asked. Will jumped and closed his sketch book. I wasn't really worried with whatever it was he had been drawing in there. Will slowly met my gaze, and his expression was like being doused in ice water. 

"I don't know." He said so quietly I barely heard him. 

"What do you mean you don't know? You don't have any idea where he could be?" Will shook his head slowly. 

"I didn't see him since early yesterday afternoon. I-I heard about what happened between you. I'm sorry. It's my fault." Will looked down at the desk. 

"It's not your fault." I answered sternly. 

"Promise you won't be mad at him though, okay? There's just a lot of things we can't talk about. Our family is part of that. So, please don't ask him questions about our family, if you see him again." Will seemed to be forcing out the words. His looked pained to the core. The way he was talking only made things worse.

"What do you mean 'if'?" 

"There are times when he needs to be alone. I don't know how long he will be gone. Or if he'll come back." The last sentence was nearly inaudible and wasn't meant for my ears. I stared at Will for a few seconds until Mabel poked my shoulder. 

"What's going on bro-bro?" She asked before looking at Will. Being the caring person she is, at the sight of Will being so broken she started trying to comfort him. "Hey, what's wrong?" She asked as she rested her head on her arms as she rested them on the desk. Will didn't seem like he wanted to talk anymore, but Mabel wasn't about to give up that easily. "Maybe we can help." She said and squeezed his hand. Will nodded a little. 

"I think Bill might be in danger." Will finally spoke. "We should find him." 

"What kind of danger?" I wanted to know before we rushed in blind to help him.

"He's been having a lot of bad dreams recently. He might be a danger to himself." Will said quietly, but Mabel and I understood what he meant. 

"Where could he be?" I rushed to ask the question. We needed to get to him before anything could happen. Though, he's been gone for a long time already. We might be too late before we even start looking. 

"I don't know. I checked the usual spots before heading off to school. He wasn't there." Will said quietly. 

"Did you check the cave?" I questioned; that was the only place I could think he would be.

"No." Will answered quickly. "He doesn't like being there late at night, so I just assumed." Though as he thought about it it didn't seem as much of a crazy idea for him. "I hope he's not there." Will stood up and we followed him out of the room. He was holding onto his sketch book tightly. It was the only thing he had brought with him. 

The hike to the cave felt like it took twice as long as last time. The only thing I could think about is if, or how we will find Bill. If he went here we might not ever find him. I was holding onto the hope that he wasn't there, but that quickly faded as I saw a familiar backpack with it's contents spilled all over the ground outside the mouth of the cave. I ran to the backpack. Even though his bag was here, Bill was nowhere in sight. There was a flashlight on the ground; maybe Bill had a spare? Otherwise, how would he be able to get through the cave?

"Where is he? Shouldn't he be out here too if his bag is here?" Mabel said and started looking around. Will carefully inspected the bag. It seemed like he found what he was looking for as he carefully picked it up by a tear in the material. There was four parallel cuts in the bag, like claw marks. I felt all of the blood drain from my face. What could have caused that? A bear seemed like a good explanation. This was a cave; full of glowing spiders however. Mabel stopped looking for Bill as we continued to look at the bag. "Should we call the police?" She asked breathlessly. 

"No." Will answered quickly. "Please." He begged. We stared at him for a moment before glancing at each other. I hope we are thinking the same thing; wait to call the police if we don't find him. I picked up the flashlight and turned it on. As I was holding it in my hand I felt scratches along its side. I pointed the light inside the cave. We were going to have to look for him here, but I felt paralyzed. If there is a bear living in this cave I would rather not bother it. 

"Will, which tunnel would he have taken?" I asked. There was multiple tunnels after you got past the first chamber. Mabel and I have only been down two of them. 

"I don't know. We should try the one on the left first." He started taking shaky steps into the cave. Just now I noticed he left his sketchbook on the ground next to the scattered bag. I wanted to ask why, but now was not the time for that. 

Will led the way as we walked towards the back of the cave; where it splits off. I quickly counted all of the tunnels I could see. Six, there was six different tunnels once you got down here. There was one between the one I had followed Bill into, and the one we found Mabel in that I hadn't seen before. Will was walking quickly, and didn't even slip. However, if I tried to match his pace I would have landed straight in a puddle of cave water or worse, guano. 

"He's not here." Will said before we had even made it to the chamber Bill had showed me before; which I had assumed was where we were going to check first. "He's down another tunnel." He said, voice full of dread. Will turned around and started walking back as I kept the flashlight pointed forward to try and see what had made him so sure Bill wasn't here. We were just before the tunnel got skinnier, so I couldn't see much, but I did see something glowing. 

"Wait, what's that light?" I asked. Will's footsteps stopped. As the cave fell silent there was only the sound of dripping and a low hum seeming to echo throughout the place. 

"Don't go down there. It's bad news." Will said and kept moving in the darkness. 

"But Bill might be down there!" I exclaimed. There was no way he would have known that Bill wouldn't have taken that way. 

"He would have avoided it. Just like we should."

"What's down there?" I questioned. My flashlight trained on Will. 

"I don't know, but Bill told me to turn around and head back if I ever saw an orange light like that." I looked back and realized the light was orange, not white like you would expect from a flashlight. Maybe it was a fire? However, we would smell the smoke and it wasn't flickering. I didn't protest further, and we walked back to the beginning. Will stood outside of the six tunnels for a short time. By now Mabel was holding onto my sleeve; mainly for balance. There was definitely something wrong. 

"Which one is next?" I asked. I was moving the flashlight from tunnel to tunnel, and before Will answered I saw something. An empty can. Which looked like an energy drink; I remembered Bill's expression when he heard they had run out the first day I met him. It must have been his. Will noticed it too. 

"Oh no." Will rushed to the entrance of the tunnel. He stood two feet away from the opening. "Why would he go down there? Dipper, Mabel, you're going to have to go without me. I'll give you Bill's map though." He moved out of the cave awkwardly, slipping on guano every other step. I found it weird he didn't do that before. 

"Map?" I said quietly, but my voice echoed off the walls so Will could hear me. We were following him by a few feet. 

"Yeah, Bill was writing down what he found down every tunnel. I really hope you believe it. You're going to need to. That's why I can't go down there. It isn't someplace neither of us should go. However, I think you two should be fine. You don't have any traumatic memories, do you?" Will reached the bag and rummaged around inside of it; pulling out another sketchbook. He held it out to me. "It's tunnel five." I opened to the first page that showed a simple sketch of the tunnels. They all had writing in them. The first one had the most writing. I didn't waste time reading everything. Instead I looked at tunnel five. As I was reading it I noticed that each tunnel had a label. Dangerous, or safe, or a question mark. One, two, and five were labeled safe with a question mark under one. While the others were marked as dangerous or questionmark. There was a smaller label beneath it that in parentheses said 'memories, avoid'. I had no idea what the meant. "And here's this. Just in case." Will held out a scary looking knife to me. I reluctantly took it. 

"Why aren't you going?" Mabel asked. 

"It's best if I don't. I can't stand small spaces." It seemed to be more of an excuse than a reason. I flipped to another page. This one was labeled cave one in the corner. I turned pages until I reached cave five. This drawing didn't have much writing; only notes on where the cave got smaller and harder to make it through. I flipped the page and that's when the writing got weird. There was notes about crystals in the sides of the cave that would show you your memories. Before there was an end drawn the notes had stopped. All of the others had an ending point, except for this one, and the unexplored ones.

"It does get small in some places." I told Mabel. "You can stay out here if you want." She huffed loudly.

"As if I would do that. Let's go." She started pulling me into the cave. I held tight onto the 'map' and checked if I had a pencil on me; which thankfully, I did. Normally I didn't carry one of those around with me, but I was happy to find one this time. If we make it further than what Bill has down maybe I could fill it out for him. Mabel had taken the flashlight from me as we started down the tunnel. It was weird, but this one felt warmer than the first one we went down. It was comforting. Until we reached the part it started getting smaller. 

"We're going to have to crawl." I informed Mabel. The walls were damp, and I knew she wasn't going to like the idea of getting her sweater wet. "You can still go back if you want." I offered. 

"And leave you in here alone? Never." She said and pushed herself into the small opening. I followed close behind her. 

We could hear the voices before we could see where they were coming from. Mabel hopped up quickly as the cave opened up again. This is the part with the 'crystals'. As we looked around I was surprised by what we saw. There was crystals all around the walls, all of them the size of a big flat screen television. Playing our memories. One of them was playing Mabel's memories of Norman, the weird guy she had dated last time we were here. Thankfully that relationship only lasted a few days. Then I saw one of my memories. It was the first time we had met Ford. Seeing the memory was nostalgic, and also painful. 

"I didn't believe it." I said as we kept moving. We were getting close to where the writing just stopped. That's when we found Bill. He was leaning against one of the crystals, unconscious.  As we got closer to him we noticed the memories weren't ours anymore. I looked around quickly; trying to take in everything that I could. That's when I focused on the crystal across from him. I couldn't see anything. It was completely black. There was a child's crying, and another voice trying to offer comfort. I was so engulfed in trying to understand the memory I didn't notice the light coming from farther down the cave. 

"Dipper." Mabel said and poked my arm. I looked down the tunnel where Mabel was pointing. It was an orange light, but didn't we just see that down in cave one? I started trying to wake up Bill. 

"Get up. We need to get out of here." I shook him a little. There was no response. I watched and saw his chest rise and fall. At least he's still breathing. That's when I realized there was blood on the wall behind him. I looked at Mabel and pointed to the blood. For a few moments I thought about what to do. We need to know how bad his cuts are, but if we move him we might make things worse. I decided that I was going to have to see the cuts, we are in a hurry. I didn't see much blood, but he might have lost enough blood to make waking him up impossible. Slowly I started lowering him to the ground so I could see his back. The back of his shirt would have done just as well if it had been removed. There was almost nothing left of it, but what I saw on his back made me want to get out of here and leave him. 

"This can't be good." Mabel whispered exactly what I was thinking. The cuts in his back weren't done by a bear. There were pictures cut into his skin. Someone had to have done this, and it had to have taken a long time. The orange light seemed to have gotten brighter. 

"We need to go." I tried waking him up again by gently slapping him on the face. Nothing was happening. "Bill please, wake up." I begged. The orange light got incredibly bright, to the point I had to cover my eyes, and disappeared suddenly as Bill gasped and his eye fluttered open. "Bill." I was too focused on him to think about the disappearance of the light. 

"Pine Tree? What are you doing here?" He asked as he slowly pushed himself off the ground he winced as he tried standing up. After he failed to stand up he propped himself against the wall. 

"What happened to you?" I rushed to ask, completely ignoring his question.  

"I don't know." I doubted that was true, and gave him a skeptical look. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." I motioned to the entire cave that was currently playing our memories. 

"Try me." 

"Where's Will?" Bill suddenly looked scared. Which he should have already been looking pretty freaked out, however, he didn't.

"Outside, he waited for us there." He nodded and relaxed. 

"There's something evil in this cave, not just the things I have found in it. It's as though this thing is part of the cave. Anyways, it's active again. I hadn't expected that; I guess I'll get some nasty scars from it." He was referring to the markings on his back.  

"Is that thing the orange light you told Will to stay away from?" Bill's eyes widened. 

"You saw it?" 

"Yes." I nodded. 

"That's bad. Really bad. Star, did you see it too?" Mabel nodded and Bill rushed to stand up without the wall for balance, almost falling in the process. "You need to get out of here too. I can't believe I didn't think of that before." Bill tried to stand up again; this time I helped him up.

"Why is it bad if we saw it?" 

"That means it can get to you."

"First of all, what is 'it'?" I said as Bill tired walking away. 

"I don't know, the only thing I can think to call it is a demon. It's really for the whole sell your soul kind of thing. Anyone it thinks it can use it shows itself to, thankfully you've only seen it as a light." I stared at him. 

"You have seen it as more than that?"

"Don't fall asleep in this cave, ever." he warned. Even with all of the scratches on his back he was moving pretty quickly. 

When we made it out of the cave Will was sitting by the ripped up bag drawing in his sketchbook again. He barely even noticed us until Bill's shadow covered his light. I was surprised when Will wasn't ecstatic to see his brother. They stared at each other for a short time before Will jumped up and hugged him. 

"What happened to you?" Will said as he noticed the cuts on Bill's back and the blood on his hands.


	8. Truth or Dare

(Dipper’s POV)

Since the Shack was the closest place, we took Bill there. He had gotten surprisingly quiet after he left the cave. For the most part it was him and his brother whispering back and forth. When I opened the door to the Shack Bill didn’t hesitate on where he was going. He walked straight to the bathroom; how did he even know where it was? He couldn’t have  
been here more than a couple of times. I ignored my suspicion and looked to Will. He was still drawing something. 

“What are you drawing?” I asked. Will jumped and quickly closed the sketchbook. 

“Just random things.” He said sheepishly. Mabel started to get curious on what it was he had been drawing too. 

“Can I see?” She asked happily.

“No.” Will answered softly. 

“Come on! Your drawings are awesome!” Will blushed as she said that.

“I don’t think you would be interested in this picture.” He answered. That wasn’t going to stop Mabel. Even after Bill’s threat to leave Will alone the curiosity was too much. Mabel rushed behind him where he was holding the sketchbook and took it from him. Tossing it to me. I flipped to the last page with a drawing in it. Instead of trying to get his sketchbook back, he took a seat on the couch and brought his knees to his face. “I told you you wouldn’t be interested in the picture.” He whispered, but it was the exact opposite. His picture was the exact scene of where we found Bill. It had everything to the memories that had been playing on the crystals. 

“How did you draw this?” I asked softly. He couldn’t have known where Bill was this whole time, could he? Mabel took a quick peek at the picture before I gave it back to Will. I felt as though I had just seen something I shouldn’t have. 

“I don’t know.” Will looked as surprised to see the drawing as we were; which only made things worse. He flipped it back a page and compared the drawings. “I don’t remember drawing that.” He finally said. “This was the last picture I drew.” He showed us the other picture he had been looking at which was of an adorable little husky. 

“So cute.” Mabel cooed. 

“You don’t remember drawing that last picture?” Will shook his head. 

“That happens sometimes though.” He added. “Like this one.” He said as he flipped the pages back a few which ended on a picture of Mabel and I. His face grew bright red as we looked at him suspiciously. “I drew it two days before you showed up. I don’t remember drawing it either.” Before we could learn anymore Bill walked into the room. He looked at us questioningly as we were sitting around Will. I jumped up as I saw him; Mabel was giggling, but I pushed him out of the room as fast as I could. 

“What’s wrong Pine Tree?” He teased; though he knew what was wrong. He had no shirt on. I should have thought about that before; his shirt had been ripped apart. After he was out of the room with my sister I let go of him to find him a shirt to wear from the gift shop. For whatever reason he starting following me around. “I hope you’re not mad at me.” He said as he wrapped his arms around me. I froze where I stood; what is he doing? “I’m just a little overly protective of the ones I care about.” He said and rested his chin on my shoulder. It was getting hard for me to breathe.

“It’s fine.” I strained, before pushing him off of me. He let out a small laugh. Making things worse for me. Who knew a laugh could make me feel this way? Before long he was back to touching me; this time he wrapped an arm around my waist and walked along side me as I moved to a rack with shirts on it. 

“Are you sure?” He faked concern; we both knew he was only doing this to mess with me. I pushed him off. Finally, I found a shirt that would fit him and threw it at his head. “Thanks.” He said as he put it on. I was able to relax now that he had a shirt on. However, he wasn’t about to let me feel comfortable. He started leaning closer to me, and I had no idea what to do. The only thing I could think to do was grab the picture off of the wall and block him from me. I heard him laugh as his head bumped against the picture. Gently he pushed it out of his way. 

“What were you doing in the cave?” I stopped him before he could get weirder. He nodded his head but said nothing. 

“Why don’t we join Star and Will? They probably want to know just as bad as you do.” With that, he walked away. Somehow, by the time I had made it back to the living room Mabel and Bill had already gotten into the middle of a monopoly battle. Which was weird considering I only was in the kitchen for a few seconds to get a drink.

“So, are you going to tell us what you were doing in the cave?” I asked and took a seat next to Will on the small couch. 

“Sure, I was walking through the forest and I saw this really strange creature, so I followed it.” Bill said that as though it was just a normal Sunday night for him. “It charged me at the entrance of the cave. I got too close, so to distract it I threw my backpack at it.” He laughed as he said that; though I didn’t find it funny. “Then once it was done inspecting my bag I followed it into the cave; which lead me down there.” 

“Where was your flashlight?” I asked. Bill turned to face me.

“I didn’t use one.” He answered. 

“That’s impossible. It’s too dark in there for you to see without one.” I countered. 

“You don’t always have to see where you are going to know where you are heading.” He answered; which made no sense. How else would you know where you are? “Anyways if I used one I would have just made things worse for me. You’d probably find me in pieces and not with only a few scratches.” I rolled my eyes as he said that. ‘A few scratches’; his entire back is covered in ‘scratches’. 

“Can I see your back?” I realized that I hadn’t gotten a good look at the cuts on his back yet. The only time I had seen them they were covered in blood. Though, even with that I could tell there was a pattern to them. Bill smirked at me. 

“Sure Pine Tree.” He didn’t hesitate to take his shirt off. I ignored his smirk as I went to look at his back. Trying not to focus on Mabel holding back laughter as she watched me. He was about to say something, but Mabel interrupted as she declared she wasn’t about to lose. However, from what I could see she was losing already.

Now that I was looking at the cuts I was surprised. There was so much detail, so many little patterns. The patterns were all found within this circle; however, that wasn’t a cut. It was just a red mark around his back that looked very painful; it looked like road rash, as though he was dragged. However, that wouldn’t explain the perfect circular shape of it. 

“Do you have even the slightest idea of how you got those?” I asked Bill. He shook his head. 

“The last thing I remember was my memories on the walls. Then they all changed to the same one. That never happened before.” I started thinking back to when Mabel and I were there. There had been a lot of memories playing from both of us. In fact, every one of those crystals were playing a different one. 

“What memory was that?” Mabel asked halfheartedly. The only thing she cared about at this moment was winning, but she at least acted like she cared about the conversation we were having. Bill stiffened at her question. 

“A bad one.” He answered. I sighed; louder than I had wanted too, and Bill turned to glare at me. 

“Sorry.” I said before I could even think about why I was saying it, but when he looked at me like that I felt like I had to say sorry about something. “Could you please not keep so many secrets? I mean we did just risk our lives to save you.” His looked changed to a sadder one. 

“I can’t tell you. It, would ruin everything.” 

“How?” I wanted, no needed, to know as much as possible. If I was going to understand anything that was going on I first needed to understand the person sitting in front of me. 

“We’d never be able to see each other again. You wouldn’t...” He spoke quietly and looked back at the board; letting his last sentence trail off. Mabel seemed to have picked up on the tensions in the room. 

“I got it!” She shouted happily. “Let’s play truth or dare! That way we can get to know each other better.” Mabel looked proud at her suggestion, and it didn’t sound half bad. I nodded in agreement. She knocked all of the pieces off of the monopoly board. Bill didn’t seem bothered that she just surprise ended their game.

“Can I just watch?” Will said sheepishly. 

“No can do.” Mabel pulled him down into the floor with the rest of us. “Who wants to go first? Oh, I will. Will, truth or dare?” She mischievously asked him. I felt a little bad for him; Mabel’s dares were horrible, but her truth questions were even worse. 

“Dare.” I was surprised when he said that, but Mabel seemed to process it in lightning speed. She then whispered something in his ear. His face turned red, and he had to cover his face. “Okay.” He said and picked up his sketchbook and left the room.

“What was that?” I asked.

“He’s going to be busy with his dare for a while. So I guess it’s just us now.” She smiled. She may be cruel at this game normally, but I could tell she went easy on Will. 

“And since Will is gone, I get to ask you, Dipper, truth or dare?” 

“Truth.” I didn’t hesitate on that, the last time I said dare she made me drink this glitter drink she had made. It was horrible, and I coughed up glitter for a week. Though, in her defense it was when we were a lot younger. 

“Why does everyone call you Dipper?” She asked. At first I didn’t know why she would ask a question like that, she already knows that, but then I remembered Bill was here. He seemed interested in finding out the reason behind my nickname. I reluctantly took my hat off and pushed my bangs back. Bill got right up in my face to look at my birthmark. 

“Little Dipper.” He whispered and chuckled as he sat back down. 

“Don’t call me that.” I complained half-heartedly. Then I realized it was my turn to ask. “Bill, truth or dare?” 

“I guess I could humor you, truth.” He said nonchalant. 

“What happened to your eye?” I asked. He let out a short, dry laugh. Then he stood up.

“Let’s go somewhere where I know your sister won’t hear.” He said. 

“Why?” I asked, but stood up anyways.

“It’s, an interesting story.” I shrugged and lead him outside into the muddy parking lot; where Mabel couldn’t hide within earshot. It was dark, but the moon was giving enough light that I could tell Bill was blushing. It was the first time I had ever seen him do that. “Honestly, somehow this is the easiest, yet hardest thing for me to say.” Bill started stalling. 

“Just say it and get it over with.” 

“Easy for you to say. You’re not the one that’s going to get laughed at.” 

“I won’t laugh.” I couldn’t be sure of it, but I doubted I would. I mean he lost his eye because of it, so it has to be sad. 

“Okay, then let’s bet on it.”

“No.” I realized it might actually be bad now. Bill would never try and place a bet if he knew there was a chance he was wrong. 

“Okay, anyways, your sister’s creeping me out.” Bill looked at the large window of the Shack. Mabel had her face pressed up against the glass making weird faces at us. 

“Bill, stop stalling.” He whimpered. 

“Okay, fine.” He said, but quickly stopped. He cleared his throat. “Ifellonacrayon.” He said so quickly I didn’t understand what he said. 

“Could you say that slower this time?” Bill sighed. His face was a deeper shade of red from before. 

“When I was younger I wasn’t very smart and... fell when I was holding a crayon in my hand. It got me right in the eye.” He said slowly and more evenly. I was holding my breath trying not to laugh. 

“I see.” I said, still holding my breath. “So, a crayon. Who knew they were dangerous?” I said as I tried to compose myself. 

“So, now it’s my turn to ask someone truth or dare. I hope you don’t mind, but I think I’m going to try and team up with your sister.” Bill said, he was still bright red, but seemed to be calming down. “Truth or dare?” He asked me. I knew what he meant by ‘team up with my sister’. They both will be going after me. 

“Dare.” I said and shrugged. Until I realized Bill was probably going to be worse than Mabel. “That was a mistake, wasn’t it?” I asked Bill who nodded and grinned. 

“Well, I guess it’s too late to do anything I would have really enjoyed.”

“What do you mean?” 

“You don’t want to be deep in the forest late at night. Do you think you could figure out what the drawings on the cave wall could be?” Bill asked me, it must have something to do with his dare.

“I was actually planning on doing that.” I said as we entered the Shack again, I was happy to be back inside where it was warm. 

“Well, could you try and figure this out?” He asked and handed me a small cylinder; that when he let go of it I almost dropped. It weighs twice as much as it looked like it should. When I looked at it in the light I could see the designs were amazing on it. There were different colored metals found inside of the engravings. It reflected in a way you didn’t want to take your eyes off of it. “Pine Tree, don’t lose yourself.” Bill said as he waved his hand in front of my eyes. I was finally able to look away from it. 

“Yeah, this should be simple enough.” I inspected it and it was a short message, it was also covered in random markings. It looked like the random markings were there to confuse someone trying to figure out what it was saying. To make things easier the message was Latin; it was hard to tell as it went in a circle and the carving wasn’t that great, but I recognized one word. Caveo, beware. 

“Cool, and Pine Tree. Promise me you won’t lose yourself in that thing, okay?” I looked at Bill weird. 

“What do you mean by that?” 

“It can be mesmerizing. If you find yourself going into a trance like you were before, look away from it. Promise me you will?” Bill looked sincerely concerned for me.

“Yeah.” I nodded. 

“You two lovebirds better not kick me out of the game!” Mabel shouted as she met us at the doorway to the living room. 

“Truth or dare?” I asked her. Taking a moment to put the heavy cylinder on in Ford’s old room; the one I’m sleeping in. 

“Dare.” Mabel answered quickly. 

“I dare you to call a random number and ask for Abby.” It was a weird dare, but Mabel would enjoy it. She ran to the phone and started punching numbers. I started getting this electric feeling as I realized I could tell what was on the cylinder. I didn’t think much about it as I walked back and picked it up. 

“Caveo quodnam abscondit lucem.” I said as I turned it around in my hand. It was a simple warning, and it made sense with what we had just experienced. 

“What does that mean?” I jumped as I heard Bill’s voice. I didn’t hear him follow me. 

“Beware what hides in the light.” I answered. It was weird that I would know that. I hadn’t learned much more than the basics in my short class over the summer. 

“Well I could have told you that.” Bill said and laughed as he took the cylinder from my hands and hid it back in his pocket. Which seemed impossible to do. I hadn’t thought of that before. How could he carry something that heavy around with him. He must have realized what I had been thinking because he pulled a bag out of his pocket. “I may have found more than just that little artifact in the cave. He said and flipped the bag over and held his hand underneath it. The cylinder; which was probably twice the size of the bag fell out. “This bag has to be my favorite item though.” Bill said and put the cylinder back in it before handing the bag over to me. I was prepared for the weight of the cylinder, but was surprised when the bag felt weightless. 

“How does it work?” I questioned as I inspected it. Nothing about it seemed off. It was just a small black bag with a string to tie it closed. 

“I don’t know.” Bill choked the words out. He began coughing loudly, and collapsed to the floor. 

“Are you okay?” I knelt down next to him. 

“I’m fine.” Bill managed between coughs. “I just need-” Before he could say anymore the coughing got worse. It only took a few seconds for me to notice, but I wish I never did, he was coughing up blood. There were specks of crimson covering the floor. I was about to call for help when Will stuck his head in the doorway. He looked concerned, but he couldn’t see the blood yet. 

“We have to get him to the hospital.” I said and tried lifting him up. Even though Bill was trying to stand up, the constant coughing caused him to fall back down. Will started helping me stand Bill up. He was covered in blood now. How could someone cough up so much blood so quickly? 

We made it out of the room and Bill’s coughing seemed to lessen. It still looked like there was a waterfall of blood coming from his mouth. What could have caused this? As far as I could tell there hadn’t been any trauma to the lungs from an external source, but an internal source wouldn’t get that much blood into the lungs so quickly; in most cases. Will and I were almost out the front door when Mabel ran up behind us. 

“What’s going on?” She sounded scared. The trail of blood would give her more than enough reasons to be scared.

“Mabel, we have to get Bill to the hospital, quickly.” But how were we supposed to do that. We were out in the middle of nowhere, no car, and as far as I knew there wasn’t an ambulance in Gravity Falls meaning it would have to come from a nearby town. That would take too long. If only I knew what was happening. I heard Mabel on her phone, and silently prayed there was something that could be done. Maybe a police car could come out here and pick him up? 

Will opened the front door and we stepped through awkwardly; saying it didn’t fit three people at once. I was expecting a cold draft and darkness, but instead the lighting got brighter and it felt warm and comforting. Then I heard a steady beeping. It calmed me, and I almost closed my eyes. Until I realized things didn’t add up. I shot up from my seat and looked around the room. I was in the hospital, Bill was lying in the bed, and Will was sitting at the other side of the bed. 

“What happened?” I asked Will. He was drawing in his sketchbook again. 

“Don’t you remember? Mabel called and a police car met us on the road and took him to the hospital.” Will answered as though it was something I should remember. In that moment I couldn’t catch the sarcasm in his voice.

“Oh, is he okay?” I asked. Maybe my mind just didn’t process everything what happened after leaving the Shack. It was pretty stressful. Especially after just finding him in the cave. The cave, maybe one of the cuts on his back was deeper than it appeared to be. Though, he would have showed signs of it before. Not even the best actor could keep internal bleeding of the lungs a secret. Or maybe, if he knew. No, no, no! That much blood all at once is not possible. I was giving myself a headache just thinking about it all. I had to sit back down before Will even started talking again. 

“Yeah.” Will nodded. “Dipper, do you remember seeing the police car?” I didn’t know if I should lie or not, but the truth is always the best policy, right?

“No.” 

“Me neither. Though when I asked a nurse she said that’s how we got here. I hadn’t even been carrying my sketchbook when we took Bill outside, but it was here with some pencils.” 

“What do they say caused all of the blood?” 

“They say they didn’t find any blood inside of him. His lungs, throat, and stomach were all clear. Not even traces of blood. Except for his mouth and nose.” Will didn’t seem happy with those results, and neither was I. 

“Do you think it has something to do with the cave?” I asked. Will froze and finally looked at me.

“I hope not.” His eyes were red from crying. “Dipper, there’s somethings I need to tell you.”


	9. The Past Haunts the Present

(Dipper’s POV)

“Dipper, there’s something I need to tell you.” When Will said that I didn’t know if I should be more excited or nervous. Finally it sounded like he was going to open up, but it didn’t sound good. “Could we talk in the hall?” I followed him into the hallway. It was strangely empty; with the florescent lights it only made it creepier.

“Is Mabel here?” I realized I hadn’t seen her. Will shook his head.

“I think we just kind of appeared here. Mabel wasn’t with us when we exited the house.” That’s right; she was calling 911. She’s most likely in the Shack. 

“How could that happen?” It didn’t make much sense. Did we just walk through the front door and ended up here? We couldn’t have. 

“Dipper, I think we need to get back to the cave, now. I think Bill did something very stupid. Extremely stupid.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I don’t really know. It sounds crazy; even when I think about it. But I think Bill might have made a deal with the thing in the cave. A while ago he told me about it. He didn’t say much; just that he decided to see what was causing the light, and that’s when the thing spoke to him. That’s just before he started having frequent nightmares.” When Will was talking I couldn’t help but get goosebumps. I didn’t even like the feeling of seeing that light, but Bill walked into it? What did he see? And what kind of deal could he have made? 

“Did he tell you anything about the deal at all? What it was?” It didn’t seem like Bill to make a bad deal. He seemed smart when it came to getting the better end of a deal, considering how he places his bets.

“He never told me. He doesn’t seem to want to talk about it. Maybe if we go back there we might be able to figure something out.”

“What about Mabel?” We couldn’t just leave her freaking out.

“What about me?” I heard my sister say as footsteps rushed down the hallway. “Where did you guys go?! One second you were there and the next, gone!” She said as she hugged me tightly, a little too tightly. “You had me freaking out for the longest time!” Mabel was laughing, and sounded relieved. 

“We’ve been freaking out too.” I answered with a short humorless laugh.

“Mabel, did you bring your camera?” Will suddenly asked excitedly. My sister nodded; she took that thing everywhere. 

“Why do you ask?” She inquired at the strange question. 

“Are you willing to take a trip to the cave with me? Maybe we could take pictures of that one room, and then figure things out. Dipper, I want you to stay with Bill. He might be willing to talk to you.” 

“Wait, I’m not sure that’s-” I started, however, Mabel interrupted me.

“Let’s go! And you have some explaining to do on the way there.” Mabel said happily as she started dragging him out of the hospital. She took a moment to look back at me and wink. “You have fun with your boyfriend, but not too much fun!” She shouted. Getting the attention of a nurse who had silently been sitting behind a desk doing paperwork. I shook my head and walked back into the room Bill was in. He looked a lot better now, but then I thought about all of the blood I had seen. So much blood. 

“What did you do, you idiot?” I muttered to myself. Before sitting next to his bed to wait for him to wake up.

~ ~ ~ 

The sound of laughing caught my attention. I had left Bill’s room for only a few moments to get some of the coffee they had here because waiting for him to wake up was getting a little boring. Though, it sounded like he was awake now. When I entered the room there was a nurse laughing so hard he needed to take a seat, and Bill was nowhere to be seen. 

“Where’s Bill?” I asked the nurse. He pointed to the hallway. When I walked out into the hallway I found Bill walking back to the room. He was wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants. 

“It’s fucking freezing in here.” He complained. Then he noticed me and smiled. “Pine Tree! I wondered where you went.” 

“Are you feeling better?” I asked; though he didn’t care about me question. He ran up to me and hugged me. 

“You’re so warm.” When he was hugging me it felt like being surrounded by ice.

“Bill, Will told me about a deal.” As I said that he tensed up. “What was it? And did you actually take it?” Bill let go of me. He seemed to be struggling to find what to say. 

“It was a deal I couldn’t resist.” He said looking guiltily at the ground in front of him.

“What was it?” 

“It was, for Will.” What kind of deal did he make? 

“Bill, I need you to tell me everything about that deal.” 

“It wasn’t much. I just-” He trailed off and his words turned to mumbles. “It’s fine though, I get to spend time with you.” Bill hugged me again and stole my hat to put it on his head. I didn’t fight him for it. He was fighting to stay happy already; he looked pained. I just couldn’t tell if it was physical pain or not. 

“Bill, please tell me so I can help.”

“I don’t need help.” He defended. “I’m fine, I mean, I’m going to be fine.” I decided to stop prodding for answers. He didn’t seem to be in the mood to let anything slip. He might talk to me if I stop questioning him. “Where did Will go?” He asked as he realized how empty this place was. 

“He went to the cave with Mabel to take some pictures of the drawing on the cave.” I answered. Bill didn’t seemed bothered by that. Which made me feel even worse. He isn’t worried, so he knows there’s nothing there to worry about anymore.

“There’s something I need to get.” Bill said and started walking out of the hospital with my hat. I followed him and tried to take my hat back, but he moved away from me every time. 

“Bill, come on. Just give me my hat back.” I complained as he kept messing around. 

“Only if you promise me you won’t hurt me.” Bill stopped walking and stood facing me. He still was smiling, but what he said was serious. “In any way.” 

“Why would I hurt you?” 

“Because, I’m not a good person.” He answered in a sincerity that made me wonder how bad his past could be. Then I remembered the memory; all black and a little kid’s voice. I realize now it was his voice. He must have been trying to comfort Will; it was the only thing I could think of.

“You can’t be that bad. Even if you are, I don’t think I could hurt you.” Honestly, he frustrated me enough I wanted to never see him again, but at the same time I felt like I needed to be there for him. And more than a few times I had thought about punching him in the face like he did to me, but I doubt I could. Not that it would be very helpful to do that anyways. 

“But do you promise?” He asked again. 

“I promise I won’t hurt you.” 

“Good.” He placed the hat on my head and started walking again. 

We had walked through Gravity Falls for a long time. I could tell he wasn’t going anywhere in particular because we passed by the same gas station at least four times. That’s when he took a different turn and we started heading towards the school. I didn’t feel like asking where we were heading, it felt peaceful this early in the morning. The sun was just beginning to brighten up the sky. We walked past the school; that’s when I realized where we were going. 

“Bill, what happened to your parents?” That was the question that made Will run before. It didn’t seem to have the same effect on Bill. He kept walking as though he didn’t hear me. I was about to ask him the question again when he spoke.

“They’re dead.” He answered so softly I barely heard him. 

“What happened to them?” 

“They were shot.” Bill turned to face me now. He was expressionless. “I shot them.” I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. Did I just hear him right? That couldn’t be what happened. How could someone kill their parents? 

“Why?” I didn’t even know if I said it out loud. I was stunned, and didn’t know if I should believe him. Is he testing me? Is he trying to see how easy it is to push me away?

“I’m not lying to you. I shot them, and fed them to the fish.” His expression grew darker. “As for why, well, they were some pretty crappy parents.” He let out a laugh that made me jump. “Because of them, Will can’t stand the dark, he loses it in small spaces, he had nightmares almost every night for years, and more than once…” Bill trailed off. The darkness he was showing before was gone. He looked hurt, and scared.

“But why? What did they do?” Before he spoke, he calmed himself. 

“They didn’t want us, but for whatever reason didn’t put us up for adoption. Once they deemed we were old enough; they ‘put us to use’. As they called it.” Bill stopped talking. He was shaking, but it barely showed. “They rented us out. I guess is a way to say it. Whatever that person wished to do to us; they could do it if they paid the price.” He said it while smiling; though his smile held no humor at all. I wanted to ask what happened to him, but I didn’t want to push him. He didn’t seem very stable right now.

“Why didn’t you just run away? Or call the police?” I asked. Why did he have to kill his parents? It sounded pretty drastic.

“It wasn’t planned. We were too young to consider running away. Just one night our ‘father’” Bill said the word with hate. “was drunk, and Will and I, we were kids. We decided to look around the house, saying the only place we were allowed in was the basement. When he found us in his bedroom he pulled out the gun he kept in his closet and pointed it at us. We were doing what he told us to do, but he still shot at us. One of the bullets hit Will, and I ran. I ran to the living room where I knew I would find another gun.” Bill was lost in a trance now. Remembering the events as they took place. “I ran back into the room and shot him. Then my mom walked in and I knew she would call the police. They were filthy people and were no better than my parents. I shot her too; to keep them from making things worse for Will and I. I doubt I would have even gone to jail. Maybe they would have taken me outside of town and killed me and let my body rot on the side of the road. Make up some dumb excuse for the dead body.”

“Why didn’t you try and get help?”

“You see, Will and I tried calling the police to help us; to get us out of there, but nothing ever happened. Kids are dumb, and they listen to the parents, especially when they have something they want. We never really got to leave the house, or if we did it was under one of our parents watch. If we tried to get help we would just be written off by them and brought home.” I didn’t know what to say. This was a lot of stuff all at once. That is what he had been keeping from me. I now understand why he wouldn’t want to talk about it. I still felt a chill through my body from what he had said. “That’s why I can’t get a ‘real’ job. I don’t have any form of identification and Will and I just ran once our parents were dead. We couldn’t trust anyone to help us.” 

“I’ll help you. If there’s anyway I can.” What could be done in this situation? If he told his story to the police; wouldn’t they just send him to jail? Even if it was to save his brother and himself from living in what sounded like torture. Did he deserve to go to jail? Was he telling me the truth? From the way he looked when he was telling me his story, I could assume he wasn’t lying. In fact he looked exhausted now that he had told me his story, as though as he was speaking it he was reliving every moment of it.

“Thanks Pine Tree, though I don’t think there is much that can be done. For me at least.” I decided I didn’t want to ask him to tell me more about his deal. The deal was for Will, so he probably didn’t have to worry about anything. 

We finally entered the run down buildings where Bill and Will were staying. I was too scared to enter the building for the longest time, but when Bill entered I felt like I needed to follow him. I didn’t want to think about the possibility of part of the building collapsing on him. 

“You know, I’m surprised you haven’t run away or made up some excuse to get away from me yet. You’re a strange person.” Bill said softly, probably not meant for me to hear. 

“If what you said is true, then you did the best you could to help your brother. Where was he shot?” I had thought about that; if Will had been shot they would have had to go to the hospital at sometime. A small kid would bleed to death pretty quickly without the proper care. 

“The shoulder. It basically just grazed him, which was lucky.” Bill sighed. “I don’t know what I would do if he died.” I could understand that; having a twin of my own. Maybe that’s why I didn’t feel so frightened by his story. If Mabel was in trouble I would do whatever I could to save her. I smiled as I thought of something ironic. 

“Bill, I have a deal for you.” I said and smiled. Bill looked at me humorlessly. He knew that I was joking about the deal he made. “If you tell me the exact details of that deal you made, you and Will can stay at the Shack, at least until Soos gets back. Though, I doubt he’d make you leave.” Bill seemed to consider it. 

“Wouldn’t that just inconvenience you?” He asked as that was the most important thing to consider. 

“No, not at all. Though you’ll probably get stuck sleeping on the couches.” Mabel has the attic, I have Ford’s old room and Soos moved into the room Stan was in when they left to travel. That doesn’t leave many rooms. There was one empty room; where the wax figures were held. I don’t know what happened to them; just a day or two after we found that room all of them disappeared. “Actually there is an empty room , I think it’s actually been covered again though. I don’t know why Stan did that, but it looks just like part of the wall. I do know where the door is anymore, so that might be a problem, but it shouldn’t be too hard to find it.” 

“A hidden room?” Bill questioned excitedly. 

“Yeah, as far as I know it’s empty.” 

“Nice.”

“So, is it a deal?” I questioned. Bill scrunched up his face for a moment.

“Fine.” He said and we shook on it. “So that deal I made. The thing offered to fix Will’s life, so he could live normally and not have to deal with this.” Bill motioned to the room we were standing in. The ceiling was missing a piece; that Bill and Will avoided being underneath it. There was no windows in this room, and where there was supposed to be ones you only found holes. Everything except for where their stuff was placed was covered in dirt and dust. “And all I had to do was ‘give up my body’. At first I thought it was the dumbest thing ever. I mean, I couldn’t leave Will. But the thing kept telling me things, saying that I’ll still be me. I’ll still be with Will. Though, there’d be some changes. Finally the thing talked me into it. I think that thing that happened at the Mystery Shack was part of it.” 

“Could you explain more by what you mean ‘give up your body’?” I wanted to yell. How could he get talked into that? It didn’t sound like it benefited him at all. Is he going to die? What’s going to happen to him? He’s not leaving, not now. I don’t know why the thought of him being gone scared me so much, but I couldn't stand the idea.

“It told me that I’d change. I’d still be me mentally, but physically, not completely. It said stupid things like immortality or that nothing could hurt me, and all these other dumb things. I don’t really understand what it’s getting out of this.” 

“Can you still back out of it?” Bill looked at me as though I said the dumbest thing he’d heard all day.

“No, once the deal is made it’s done. Not that I’m too worried about it.”

“I am, and you should be too.”

“Why would you be worried? It doesn’t affect you.” He laughed as though I was joking.

“It does, when I care about you.” Bill gawked at me. 

“Nah, that can’t be. You barely know me.” 

“I think I know more than enough now.” I didn’t really know what I wanted to do right now; I just started walking closer to him. A part of me wanted to be mad at how careless he was. How dumb he was to take that deal. Though, I knew that wouldn’t help. I was getting worried for his safety. What if that thing lied to him and was going to use him? “You and Will don’t need to live like this anymore; you have Mabel and I now.” I was surprised when Bill started laughing, and thought at first he had lost it. In fact he had, but he was laughing to cover the fact he was crying. “Are you crying?” I teased.

“Nope, you’re seeing things.” He turned away from me. I place a hand on his shoulder.

“Let’s get your stuff and get out of here before this place topples down on top of us.” Bill nodded but still refusing to look at me. He walked around me; keeping his back to me. I chuckled at his actions. He started stuffing his stuff into a bag. It was quite surprising how much stuff he could fit into one bag; that only made me feel worse, how many times has he packed that small bag to move again? The one thing that made me feel better was seeing he hadn’t forgotten his energy drinks.


	10. What do We do About Mabel?

(Mabel’s POV)

I found myself crying with Will as we made our way back to the Shack; though it was mainly because when someone started crying I couldn’t help but join in. He caved in and started telling me about his past. I can’t believe all the things he went through because of his parents. It made me more than thankful for the parents I have. 

“Sorry about that.” He said between sobs. “I didn’t mean…” 

“It’s fine. I’m happy you were comfortable enough with me to tell me all of this.” Honestly, I felt like I had reached the max friend level with him. It made me feel great. That got me thinking; how many friends has he had? Other than Bill. 

“It’s great that your camera works well in dark places.” Will said to change the topic. 

“Mhm, It’s the best camera I have ever had.” I said triumphantly. Thankfully, both of us started calming down and had completely stopped crying before we made it to the Shack. Our eyes were definitely going to be red however. “Hey Dip-dot, where are you?” I asked as we entered the Shack. I was surprised to find him fixing things up in the gift shop. “What are you doing?” 

“Cleaning up. We are going to have to be running the gift shop from now on.” I had never thought of that. I groaned. 

“I had completely forgotten!” I shouted, and nearly jumped when Bill walked up behind me. However, he hushed me and started sneaking up on Dipper. Will was about to say something, but I covered his mouth. “I want to see what’s going to happen.” I whispered to him, watching in anticipation. Dipper was trying to reorganize a card rack as Bill quietly walked up behind him. Bill bumped him with his hip, and I didn’t expect much to happen, but Dipper must not have been expecting it at all because he fell right on top of the rack. 

“Geez Pine Tree. You’re too easy to scare.” Bill said as Dipper turned to glare at him. After a few seconds of glaring he gave up and started laughing. I was smiling uncontrollably, forgetting that I still had my hand covering Will’s mouth. I quickly moved my hand away.

“I do think you have something you need to tell Will, don’t you?” Dipper asked once he stopped laughing. I turned to Will to see if he knew what Dipper was talking about. He didn’t seem to have a clue. 

“Will, follow me.” Bill said as he walked over to his brother and started leading him away. 

“I hope you don’t mind, but I kind of made a decision without you.” Dipper started. “I kind of, invited Bill and Will to stay at the Shack with us.” He finished. I couldn’t help but laugh. “What?” He asked, clearly not realizing things weren’t going to go great for him.

“This is great! Bill and I need to start planning ASAP.” His face turned grim as he realized what I was thinking. I gasped. “Your date! I need to see what Bill was planning!” I was about to leave the room when Dipper’s voice stopped me.

“Maybe it would be best to give them some time? Bill has something important to tell Will, and it might not go to well.” 

“What’s that?” I asked, and turned to face him.

“He… Who knows what’s going to happen to him. I just feel that Will should know, and be prepared.” 

“Oh.” I said and didn’t pry for more. Now wasn’t the time for that anyways. Now was the time for sleep! Precious sleep I have been missing out on!

(Dipper’s POV)

It was almost midnight by the time I reorganized the entire gift shop, but I still wasn’t tired. I couldn’t stop thinking about what might happen to Bill. That coughing up blood was only the beginning. What will the end be like? He still felt cold, and I could only assume if I took his temperature it would be too cold for anyone to be alive. Maybe I should note this. With the time I had I took out a notebook and started writing. Where should I start? With the cave sounded the best. 

The Cave  
There are weird things throughout this cave. It seemed to have an energy too it, possibly caused by the ‘orange light’. I don’t know what it is, but Bill had made a deal with it. Whatever it is, it is conscious. I really don’t want to meet it. 

The deal Bill made with it was something about ‘giving up his body’ to help his brother live a normal life, and not have to worry about their past causing him any problems. So far the only changes I know of is his coughing fit that had caused him to lose a lot of blood. When we got back to the Shack there was no blood, and the hospital could not find anything wrong with him. During the coughing fit we made it to the hospital in an unnatural way. It seemed as though we just appeared there. Everyone except for Will, Mabel, Bill, and I had this made up memory of how we got there. After that he has been incredibly cold. 

“Whatcha doing Pine Tree?” I was startled by Bill’s voice.

“Just taking some notes, and, could I take your temperature?” I questioned. Bill didn’t seem to be weirded out by my question.

“Sure.” As I passed by him to get the thermometer I touched his arm. It was still really cold. He watched me walk past, and it was a little awkward but I was getting too drowsy to care. At least I’m finally getting tired. 

“Bill, what are you doing?” When I made it back to the room I am sleeping in, Bill was lying on the bed. 

“This is so comfortable.” He said and flipped over onto his stomach. I rolled my eyes. Then realized, I had no idea when the last time he slept on a bed was. Why do I remember painful things like this all of the time? 

“Here.” I said and handed him the only thermometer we had. It was one of those you had to place under your tongue. I hated those so much. Just think about all of the germs! I made sure to clean it, a couple of times, before giving it to Bill, and I was definitely going to clean it again afterwards. Who knew how many times? I sat down next to him as I waited for it to be done. “Bill!” I complained and shivered as he wrapped his arms around me. 

“Sorry.” He mumbled as he kept the thermometer in his mouth. His arms started to move from around my waist, but I pulled them back. He may be cold, but I think I can deal with that. I’ll adjust, right? Bill hummed happily and nuzzled his head into my back. He hadn’t even sat up since I walked in; in fact, as he kept his hands around my waist he was still laying down. It had to be uncomfortable, but he didn’t seem to care. The thermometer beeps signaled it was done, and the temperature it read forced a laugh out of me. 

“Negative five degrees Celsius. That’s not even possible. You’d be dead three times over by now.” I complained. 

“Is that cold?” 

“Extremely.” 

“How cold?” I had forgotten that most people didn’t go by Celsius in the US. I had learned to convert it to Fahrenheit in my head so quickly I didn’t feel like changing the settings.

“About twenty-four degrees Fahrenheit.” I told him. 

“That’s below freezing. Do you think that if I held a cup of water in my hand long enough it might freeze?” He said questioningly. I laughed at his remark. 

“You want to try?” 

“Not right now, right now I want to sleep.” He said and pulled me down onto the bed with him. That caused another wave of laughter from me. This is incredibly weird. Why am I trying to get closer to him? I’d never been good at keeping someone around, but he seems to just stick around with me out of pure stubbornness to leave.

“Bill, I still have things I need to do.” I finally said as my laughing stopped. 

“You can do it later.” 

“I need to clean-”

“Later.” 

“No-”

“Yes.” 

“I never even said you could sleep on my bed.” 

“You never said I couldn’t.” He had a point there. Maybe I should say that now. I mean, he did tell me about himself, but that doesn’t mean I really know his personality. He always seemed to be changing how he acts, and it was more than a little frustrating. Sometimes he could be the funniest guy I knew, and other times he could be a pain in the ass, or face. 

“You’re so frustrating.” I sighed and set the thermometer on the nightstand. I’ll clean it first thing tomorrow.

“No one ever said I wasn’t.”

“And now I see why.” That got Bill to laugh. “How did Will take the news?” I asked.

“Pretty well. Though I did try and keep his attention on the fact that we are going to be staying here, for at least a little while.” The way he said it made me sigh. He made it sound as though they would be leaving soon. I didn’t want that. I just started solving the mystery of them, but it only lead to more mysteries. 

“Oh, and we still need to go on that date.” I added while yawning. 

“Oh! Yeah, I forgot about that.” Bill said and yawned as well. 

“Do you know why yawning is contagious?” I asked. It was still part of discussion, but there was one part that with all of my testing seemed to be true; you needed to feel a connection between the person who yawned first for it to happen to you. If it was someone you didn’t really care about or know it was unlikely you would yawn. Unless you were like my sister, a very caring person who will feel a connection to everyone and thing. 

“Nerd.” Was all Bill said in response. 

“We are too tired for this, aren’t we.” I answered. It was true. I just wanted to sleep, but I couldn’t stop myself from talking. That’s a first. 

“Way too tired.” 

~ ~ ~

Somehow I fell asleep with Bill’s freezing arms wrapped around me. When I woke up it was warmer than I expected, but that was because Bill had already left. The first thing I did was add the temperature into the notes, and cleaned off the thermometer. Then I headed off to the kitchen to find everyone looking completely exhausted. It seemed as though I was the only one who got a somewhat decent sleep. Mabel was the first to speak.

“So, I heard you and Bill slept together.” Mabel made it sound worse than what it really was on purpose. 

“And if we did?” 

“Then I just wanted to let you know Will and I slept together.” Will ignored what she said the best he could and continued to draw. He does that quite a lot. It’s a surprise he’s physically able to draw that much.

“What do you mean?” I questioned. Expecting nothing bad, but I had to be a little weary. Bill laughed a little. 

“I mean what I said.” She crossed her arms and tried to look serious. It wasn’t working very well. “He had to show me some pictures he drew and we fell asleep cooing over them. Or at least I was. He draws adorable rabbits!” She then proceeds to go on a rant about his artistic abilities. Slowly, she trailed off and finally got to the point. “Dipper, I’ve been having some weird dreams, and last night was worse. Maybe it was just my mind thinking about the thing we saw in the cave, but it was weird.” Bill was looking at the ground, and Will stopped drawing. I could tell she already told them what her dream was, and their verdict was grim. 

“What happened in your dream?” She took a little while to respond. 

“I was in the cave. Lost deep in one of the tunnels; I couldn’t see anything, but I knew where I was going. I was being led to a point in the cave.” She had to take a deep breath before continuing. “It suddenly dropped off, and I saw you there. Trapped. That’s when I woke up.” She concluded. 

“Have you been having any dreams like that Pine Tree?” Bill spoke up and asked. 

“No.” Recently I hadn’t even remembered my dreams. He nodded and seemed to relax a little. 

“So, that leaves just you.” Bill said quietly, as though he was trying to understand.

“What about me?” 

“I know how this thing works. When you visit the cave and you see it, it lingers. The dreams are the beginning; Will has had some, but they’ve went away after my deal was made. Mabel is having the dreams now, but you’re not. I wonder why.” Bill seemed to be considering this. 

“How do you know it isn’t just a coincidence? We did have a weird time in the cave yesterday.” 

“That’s true, but there’s something she’s not telling about her dream. It happens in every dream connected to that thing.” I looked to Mabel. She looked scared. 

“The surroundings switched to the forest, it was by the waterfall, and I saw you. Except, it wasn’t you. I don’t know how I knew that, but I could just tell it wasn’t you.” Mabel said to me. “That’s when I woke up for real this time.” I hadn’t had a dream like that; that’s for sure.

“The thing from the cave likes to take on a form you will feel comfortable with. It really wasn’t you she was seeing, and I don’t know what it wants now. It’s already got me.” Bill said softly. 

“Mabel…” I didn’t know what should be done. “Is she in danger?” 

“No, I can take care of it.” Bill sounded sure of himself. 

“How do you plan to do that?” 

“Well, by talking to it of course.” 

“You’re not going to do that.” I countered.

“Then what do you suggest we do?” I didn’t know, what is there that could be done? “The only thing that we can do about this is tell the thing to fuck off.” 

“How are you going to talk to it?” 

“Simple, take a little trip to the cave.” 

“Then I’m going.” Before anyone could state otherwise I left and went to grab some things. The notebook, a flashlight, and Mabel’s camera, so I could study the hieroglyphs when we were on our way there.

“Pine Tree, what are you doing? Do you want to jinx yourself? You made it out one time without that thing attaching itself to you. Do you really want to risk it?” 

“I want to know more about that thing.”

“I can tell you about it! You don’t need to follow me to the cave for that.” Bill seemed adamant about me not going. 

“What if on your way there you start having a coughing fit or something and there’s no one there with you?” I questioned. Bill couldn’t answer. “Even if you don’t want me going you can’t go alone.”

“Wait.” Bill started smirking. “Are you planning to skip school with me? The nerd skipping school?” Normally I would have been insulted by being called nerd, but it sounded more affectionate than insulting, so I let it slide.

“Not like I’d learn anything there anyways. Even if it was a productive day I have more than enough textbooks here to study out of.” I pointed towards Ford’s bookshelf of textbooks. It was my idea to keep it. You never know when you might want to learn more about calculus, or biology, or any of those other subjects that were on the shelf.

“Geez, you take your studying very seriously.” Bill commented, as though he didn’t notice it before. 

“Yes, I do.”

“Nerd.” Bill tried, not very hard, to cover his word with coughing. 

“Whatever, let’s go.” Bill left the room and I followed. I was a little nervous, considering what Bill had said. We are going to be talking to that thing in the cave. I don’t know if I should be scared or not.


	11. Bill's Forest Creature Friends

(Dipper’s POV)

“So, Pine Tree, what do you want to do for our date?” Bill asked teasingly. We were walking through the forest towards the cave at the moment. Mabel and Will reluctantly went to school. I told Mabel she was going to have to try and pay attention today so she can tell me what the classes went over. 

“No idea. I’m too freaked out about what might happen to you to even begin to think about that.” He looked away from me guiltily. I rolled my eyes before taking his hand in mine. It was mainly to see if his body temperature has changed, but I knew he would be happy about it. It was a relief when he wasn’t freezing anymore. He actually felt comfortably warm, not cold like before.

“You’re not going into the cave with me.” Bill said and squeezed my hand. “I won’t let you.” He looked me right in the eyes as he said that. However, I was stuck looking behind him. There was something in the trees, moving. It was bigger than a squirrel, but didn’t move like a bird. What else could it be? 

“Did you hear that?” A few feet away from us there was the sound of branches breaking, and I could have sworn I heard a squeal at the same time. 

“No, what is it?” Bill turned around to look where I was looking. Bill’s grip on my hand tightened, but I didn’t see anything different. 

“It was probably just my imagination.” I answered with a shrug, but that didn’t calm him.

“I need to do something.” He said as though he just remembered something important. 

“What do you need to do?” I looked at him suspiciously. 

“Nothing important.” He tried to sound calm, but he looked like he wanted to wherever it is he wanted to go as quickly as possible and get it over with.

“Then it can wait.” He let go of my hand and started walking off in the direction of the thing I had seen in the tree. I sighed and followed him. Where is he going? “Bill, come on. We need to hurry to the cave so we don’t miss the entire day of school.” I reluctantly started following him.

“Hush, Pine Tree, keep it down.” Bill whispered. I started to feel uneasy. Why does he feel the need to be quiet?

“What’s going on?” I whispered back.

“Uh, monster hunting?” He answered unsure of himself. ‘Monster hunting’. If he had said that to me a week earlier I would have called him crazy. Now, I don’t think it’s that absurd of an idea.

“And, how do you plan to ‘hunt’ the ‘monster’? We don’t really have any weapons at the moment.” 

“That’s why I’m taking you this way. Now please, shut up.” Bill commanded. I obeyed, but didn’t like walking around the forest like this. We could get lost. Although my extensive knowledge of survival skills would probably keep us from getting too hopelessly lost. 

“What do you want?!” I heard a shrill voice protest in one of the trees. Bill laughed; which seemed to get the reaction of an acorn to the face. 

“It’s only you!” He said and relaxed. “What are you doing around this part of the forest?” He asked the voice. I still couldn’t see who the voice belonged to yet. That’s when I saw something oddly shaped scurrying down the side of the tree. It landed behind a few bushes, and as it moved closer the bushes started moving. What appeared was enough to make me laugh. I was nervous because of this? It was a small humanoid looking creature with a tall, pointy hat. In other words, it was also a yard ornament; a gnome. 

“Well thanks to you messing everything up the flying eyeballs have gotten more active. Now I don’t know about you, but I want to stay as far away from those things as possible.” It was creepy how he was talking to this thing as though they were close friends. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend here?” The gnomes attention was now on me.

“Ah, yeah, this is Dipper.” Bill said and wrapped his arm around me. He was smiling in an unkindly way. Before I hadn’t sense a problem, but now it felt like there was some unspoken battle between the two. “And that’s Steve. He kind of kept me from getting lost one time out here; after a barrage of acorns.” He introduced the little gnome standing in front of us.

“Also, those ‘friends’ of yours won’t be back here soon. I watched them get chased away by some of those eyeballs.” Bill nodded. ‘Friends’? I looked at him questioningly, but all he did was smile at me in response. “Oh no! They’re on their way here! Later.” The gnome took off into the bushes nearby. Scurrying faster than I thought possible with his little legs. After he vanished I looked around for those ‘flying eyeballs’, but I couldn’t see anything.

“Who are those friends he was talking about?” I questioned now that we were alone. Bill sighed, and it sounded like he wasn’t going to tell me. “Let’s promise not to keep secrets from each other from now on, okay? None at all.” 

“Then why don’t you tell me a secret about yourself. Then maybe I’ll feel better telling you mine.” I thought hard. What is a secret I have that could ever possibly match or even get close to one of Bill’s secrets? He was the most secretive person I know, and his secrets were big. Not a little ‘I lied to my parents telling them I brushed my teeth when I really didn’t when I was five’.

“While I was here last time I found a book of spells, and tried a few out.” I answered. “None of them worked so I did some research and made some changes. I never tried them again though.” I didn’t tell anyone that before; mainly because I thought it was stupid and impossible. It had just been for fun. I had kept the book however, it was entertaining.

“What were they?” Bill asked. It was a little foggy, and I didn’t know exactly what all of them were all about.

“I think one was a wish granting spell, real original.” I laughed. “Another was a summoning spell. I’ve wanted to burn the fixed version of that; just in case it does work.”

“What does it summon?” He looked nervous now.

“No idea. Probably something small. All you have to do a draw a small, intricate circle and say a few lines repeatedly until something happens. No blood or bones.” 

“Do you want to try it later?” He teased.

“No.” Bill looked at me skeptically. “Well, maybe, but it’s not like it would work anyways.”

“You never know until you try. Now, I guess I have to tell you about my friends.” He paused to start walking again. It was hard to keep up with him, but I would have to if I wanted to know what he was talking about. “I’m not a good kid. I’m pretty sure you have realized that by now.” I nodded unhappily. “And to make a little extra money I would trade some stuff with people for money. Whatever they wanted I would get for them. Now, that time with the window. I was trying to get some money out of a guy who owed me. After a couple fights I did get the money, and some interest.” Bill laughed half-heartedly. 

“So, you stole stuff for people? Please tell me you didn’t handle drugs.”

“Of course not. If I had drugs I wouldn’t share them.” Bill laughed like he was joking, but I wasn’t sure if he was. Once he saw I wasn’t amused he got serious. “Look, Pine Tree, I will never do drugs. You don’t need to worry about that.” 

“Good, now where are we going?” 

“To my stash.” Bill answered with a grin. 

“Stash of what?” I was a little nervous about what his stash was of. 

“Drugs.” I felt completely done at this moment. Bill watched me the whole time and was biting his lip to keep from laughing. “You look so cute when you’re upset.” He said as he moved closer to me. His face was only inches from mine, and I shivered as I felt a warmth from him. It was complete opposite of last night, and I could’ve sworn he wasn’t this warm before. “Though, I have to say, nothing beats how adorable you look when you blush.” I forced myself away from him to hide my face. Which was obviously completely red. “Can I get a kiss before you get mad at me again?” Bill whispered in my ear, and I really wished I had more control over my body. 

“Why would I get mad?” I tried to force myself to calm down, but so far the only thing I had accomplished was being able to look him in the eyes again.

“Just kiss me and I’ll tell you why.” 

“How about you tell me and then I’ll decide what happens from there.” I tried to sound confident, but it was still hard to look at him. That’s when I felt his lips gently press against my shoulder with his hands gently holding me in place. “Bill, I’m being serious.” 

“Me too Pine Tree.” He was smiling, and looked incredibly hot. His messy hair, blue eyes that remind me of a clear lake, and his smile! It was something I never thought I would like. It constantly gave you the feeling that he knew something you didn’t, but also made him look all the better. Oh god, did I really just think that? I would have rather liked my mind to have gone blank right now. “Well, that’s enough teasing for now.” He let go of me and looked away. “It’s quite impressive how red your face can get.” He teased. “Anyway, that stash is of some little tools I’ve picked up here and there. It really helps with keeping the things in this forest away.”

“What?” Oh, I had forgotten all about the stash which had started this conversation. 

“We’re almost there by the way.” He started humming a song I never heard before. My mind was still full of static from the awkward encounter that just happened moments ago. Bill was attractive, I can admit that. Also, I like him, and I can admit that as well. But things don’t feel right. Everything that is going on. What’s happening to him, and what happened to Soos. And Grunkle Stan and Ford. It feels like it’s all too much for me right now. I don’t know if I should tell him I need space, or if I need him close to me. Maybe it’s a little of both.

It wasn’t long until Bill was digging under a tree. There had been a few protests from gnomes hiding in the tree, but after we told them we were just grabbing a few things and would be leaving soon they calmed down. That’s when I realized that I didn’t know what they were hiding from. The gnome named Steve had said some things about flying eyeballs. 

“Bill, what are they hiding from. I mean, what are those eyeball things?” I crouched down to ask him.

“Flying eyeballs.” He answered calmly. I just watched him, not sure what else to ask. “The thing in the cave created most of these things that live in this forest. The eyeballs are his way of keeping track of everything that is going on. Of course, no one and nothing likes being watched, so the gnomes have gone into hiding. A few other creatures have decided to go on the offensive and attack the eyes.” 

“How do you know this?”

“It still visits me in my sleep.” 

“Bill.” It came out as an odd sounding exhale. 

“Shit!” Bill exclaimed and brought his hand out of the little hole at the bottom of the tree. 

“What happened?” I asked and began inspecting his hand. What I saw made my blood run cold. 

“It’s nothing; just a little cut.” The cut wasn’t the weird part. The weird part was where there should be red blood, there was only a yellow substance. I couldn’t say anything, and I held tightly onto his hand. As I did that I slowly saw the cut grow smaller and smaller until it was gone, and the only thing left was the yellow substance. “That’s one of the things that is going to be different about me now.” Bill said with a nervous smile. “The thing told me it had to replace my blood with a better conductor.” He shrugged. I wanted to slap him, but refrained from doing so. 

“A better conductor?” He nodded.

“It’s gold.” He laughed. I was not laughing. 

“I’m going to test that.” I answered. Ford had a lab under the Mystery Shack that I knew about, and I wasn’t just going to take his word for it. I needed to know exactly what that thing was doing to Bill. I felt like I needed to keep bad things from happening to him. He’s become important to me so quickly in a way I didn’t think would be possible for anyone. Bill just shrugged and put his hand back into the hole in the tree. This time it took him only few seconds to get the objects out of the tree that he wanted. One was a scary looking mask, and the other was a machete covered in markings. The dried markings looked fairly old with some repairs made to them. “What are those?!” I shouted in a whisper. Surprised by the weapon in his hand. It looked like we were better prepared for monster hunting now at least.

“It’s protection, in case we meet anything unfriendly. Unlike those gnomes in the trees. Last time I went to the cave might have been somewhat of an exaggeration.” Bill cleared his throat. “I didn’t get attacked by the thing that lead me to the cave. I just wanted to make it look like I didn’t intentionally go there. In fact, I was lead to the cave to complete the deal. Those marks on my back are what started it. How’s this for no secrets?” He said with a laugh. Scared about how I would react. Normally I would get mad, like I have been before, but I couldn’t get mad anymore. Not right now.

“Thank you.” It wasn’t surprising when Bill looked at me like I had just gone crazy. “Thank you for telling me this.” I gently squeezed his hand that wasn’t holding the scary looking mask. I’d take the machete over whatever that is in his other hand any day. If I looked at it any longer I would surely have nightmares for years.

“Now off to the cave.” He said cheerfully, with a hint of nervousness in his voice.


	12. The Thing in the Cave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this Holiday update! Whatever you are celebrating today I hope your day goes great!

(Dipper's POV)

For the most part the walk to the cave was completely forgotten the second we got there. It felt ominous and far more dangerous now than it had before. It was as though the thing knew why we are here and doesn’t want to see us. I wanted to just sit outside and wait for Bill to get back like he suggested, but I wasn’t about to leave his side. The noise of bats made me look up. There was less here than I remembered. That’s when Bill pointed up and let the flashlight stay up there until I could clearly make out what was up there. I felt like I was going to get sick. Those weren’t bats. They were veiny eyeballs with wings. Though the noises they made, and way they moved made them pass as bats to anyone not knowing what they were looking for. That’s when I stuck closer to Bill. Who knew there was something else for me to fear? Was my own imagination not enough? 

“We need to go down the first tunnel, now once we start moving we can’t stop or even slow down. Got it?” Bill had put the mask on, I don’t know how it was supposed to help, but he said that it should keep the thing that lead him here before away; it was the thing’s guard dog. He was holding tightly onto my hand. I couldn't tell if it was so he didn’t lose me or if he was nervous. “Go.” He whispered the command and took off running. I was behind him; mainly being dragged. After only a few seconds the sound of scraping was coming from behind us. 

“What is that?” I asked out of fear. 

“Don’t worry, just focus on running, and don’t trip!” Soon after that I did just as he told me not to. I had forgotten that at some point in this place there is a large bump, and it sent me tumbling. Bill was able to keep standing, but was forced to stop to help me. He turned around and kept his face looking behind us. I didn’t dare look. As quickly as I could, I rushed to my feet. The sound was much closer now. “Get in front of me.” Bill pushed me in front of him. I started moving as fast as I could, but progress was slower as Bill wasn’t leading me. It was too dark and the flashlight was moving too quickly. At some point Bill had given the flashlight to me. That’s when we reached the part that got skinnier. I pressed up against the side closer to my back and shuffled along as fast as I could manage. The flashlight leading the way. As I was moving through this part I realized Bill wasn’t behind me. I stopped to try and see if he had just fallen behind, but I couldn’t stay still for long. It felt like the walls surrounding me were closing in. I couldn’t tell if it was my imagination or if it was really happening. Either way I kept moving, but focused on what was behind me; which was nothing. 

“Bill, where are you?” I questioned as I rested at the other end. I was only steps away from the dome shaped cavern. There was nothing else to do but take those few steps. As I stood there I hated every moment of being here. I felt as though there were eyes watching me from every angle; however, as far as I could tell there weren’t any of those flying eyeballs here. Nothing happened for a long time. I was waiting for Bill, but there were no signs of him.

(Bill’s POV)

We were so close to making it there without any problems, but then Pine Tree slipped. My heart was pounding as I knew the dog was going to catch up now. ‘Dog’ is a kind term for that thing. It looked like a dog for the most part. Except it was made to live in dark places, no fur, no eyes, flat paws and strange looking face to sense its surroundings better. I switched places with Pine Tree, looking behind me at all times. Even though it couldn’t see, and this mask wasn’t made to keep it away. The paint covering it still had an affect on the thing. It didn’t like it. I don’t know what it is about this mask that it doesn’t like, but I really wish I knew at this moment. Pine Tree was slow, as I expected, but the dog would be more interested in me than him. I’m the threat, not Pine Tree. 

“Fuck.” I hissed as I stumbled. I tired to keep moving, but it only got worse. Finally, I fell backwards; hitting my head against a rock knocking the mask off. We were close to the doorway, he should be safe. I was able to relax as Pine Tree hadn’t realized my fall. He was still running. The sound of a snarl made my blood; well I guess I can’t say that anymore but gold doesn’t sound as good, run cold. I tried standing, but something clamped onto my leg. Teeth punctured the skin, but it didn’t hurt. I couldn’t see what was happening, but I was being pulled away. I started stabbing at the darkness with the machete; hoping that I wouldn’t hit myself on accident. Not that it would hurt me too much.

“”Why must you be like this?” A voice sighed inside my head. “I promised you so much, please don’t be like the rest of my creations.” The voice was filled with feigned pity. It sounded more like I was being treated like a puppy that needed to be scolded rather than a person. All the while I kept slashing in the darkness; finally making contact. It only made the dog bite down harder. “You know I mean well, I only wish to make the world better. The only way to do that is change. Change that most humans won’t accept, but I thought you were different. Maybe you aren’t.” The voice was accusing now. However, I didn’t care. All I knew was that my Pine Tree was alone, in this things lair. The first time I brought him here the thing had been ‘sleeping’. I don’t know what the thing does at times like that, but I knew it wouldn’t bother us. Now it’s awake and upset. Who knows what kind of trouble Pine Tree could be in!

“If you hurt my Pine Tree I will make sure you get locked in this cave for good.” I hissed back in my head. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt him. I still hope we can be friends.” I laughed at that. We had never been friends. “I know you are upset about me visiting the girl in her sleep, but I need to try again. Maybe this time I will be able to perfect the process; your change is taking too long. If I just add a few differences maybe I can speed it up.” The voice was thoughtful. 

“You will not touch her.” I stopped fighting the dog, and let it drag me. No need wasting my energy on this mutt. There’s only one thing to do. I closed my eyes and let my senses fall away. The cold ground of the cave was nothing. The smell of dog breath, I am really happy to not think about that. I had to do that with all of my senses. Once I complete that… 

“Bill, what do you plan to achieve doing that? I’m more powerful than you. You haven’t even perfected the meditation yet.” The thing scoffed. Making me lose my concentration. My last visit here the thing instructed me to meditate until all of my senses shut off, and that’s how Pine Tree and Star found me with the cuts on my back. It was a weird procedure, but I knew that on that plane was the only time I could hurt that thing. I need equal ground. It was like a sleep, all I needed to do was relax and cut off my attention to the world around me. That’s easier said than done when you are being dragged across uneven stone floor, and I can’t stop thinking about Pine Tree. I hope he’s okay. 

“This is for Pine Tree.” I thought absently. It was. It was for him and his sister. I wasn’t aware I had cut off my connection to that plane until I was falling. The falling was just a feeling. You are never falling here. There is no ground to reach.

“Interesting.” I saw a reflection of me. That’s the appearance that thing took. It did it last time too. Before it had taken the form of my brother; that is until I threatened it and I made the deal. “You were much quicker this time. Maybe your power is attached to emotion. That’s a very uncontrollable trait. You shall need to fix that.” Even though when on this plane there was no up or down a floor was made to keep me from having that falling sensation. 

“Leave Star alone.” I instructed. 

“I can’t do that.”

“Of course you can.” 

“She is the only other compatible human in Gravity Falls! Sure, I would have much preferred her brother, but he blocks me from his mind. I don’t know how he does it. His thoughts are just so jumbled it creates a wall.” When the thing mentioned going after Pine Tree there was a change in the surrounding area. It was a feeling, kind of like the feeling of electricity in the air before a really bad lightning storm. 

“If you so much as say ‘hi’ to my Pine Tree I will wipe you from existence.” I didn’t know how I would do it, but I knew I would. 

“I see.” The thing didn’t look scared. Instead it was inspecting me. I hated being an experiment, but that was the deal. The deal I can’t back out of.

“You’ve already made a deal with me, so leave everyone else alone. If you do that, we won’t have any problems.” I watched as my reflections face scrunched up. The one thing that I hated was that the thing was in the form of how I should look. If I hadn’t been a clumsy kid and lost an eye. 

“You won’t cause any problems? You’ll go through with the entire deal without arguing.” The entire deal, I hated when the thing started talking about that. It never sat well with me. 

“Without the slightest objection.” I answered. That answer satisfied the cave dweller. 

“It’s not like I like being in this cave!” The thing complained. 

“I thought you would give me privacy?” With the deal came the fact that this thing could get into my mind at all times. It was a little frustrating at times; it would answer questions I didn’t even ask. Most of them I didn’t ask because I didn’t want them being answered. 

“Yes, I said I would try. However, you came here to threaten me.” 

“Well, maybe you should have just backed off.” 

“Fine, fine. I only need you anyways. With you taking my place I won’t have anything to worry about. You don’t have much to live for anyways. But I am very curious about your friend. He is smart, and seems familiar. I wonder if he is related to one of the humans that trapped me here.” As the thing was speaking the inside of the chamber of the cave came into view. Pine Tree was standing there; looking confused. “I hope you don’t mind, but I must test something.” With a snap of its fingers Pine Tree collapsed in pain. I was shocked, but it only lasted a moment. The thing had done something to him. 

“I thought you said you would leave him alone.” I started moving closer to my reflection. The feeling of electricity came back. Stronger this time. 

“As I said before, I need to test something.” The thing answered. 

“What are you testing?” As soon as I was an arms length away from my reflection I punched. Knowing before I hit that nothing was going to happen. There was a glass between us. There always was. The second my fist hit the glass a strange sound of cracking seemed to reverberate around the endless room. The clear glass that separated us had a large crack running through it. 

“I see.” The thing said, going pale. “I’ll take my leave.” The room; even though it really isn’t a room, went black and empty. “You should listen to my advice and start practicing before you lose control. It may be sooner than you think. I must do some math; my calculations were wrong. I’ll visit you tonight.” I felt a push, but nothing happened. It’s trying to force me out, but it isn’t working! I can keep myself in here? I had started planning how I could hurt the thing, but realized I needed it. I don’t know how to handle this power of mine. 

“Pine Tree.” My mind focused on the memory of Pine Tree on the ground in pain. 

~ ~ ~ 

(Dipper’s POV) 

The sudden burning sensation vanished seconds after it started. Where is Bill? I started getting worried. Something is hurting me that I cannot see nor fight it. Where is he when I need him? I was getting scared, and wanted to leave. That thing, I couldn’t find any hint about what it was from the hieroglyphs. 

“Pine Tree! Pine Tree!” Bill’s voice made me jump. He was standing behind me. The opposite side of where the entrance is. All I could see was a dark shape, and I took as step back as the dark shape stepped closer. It would be wishful thinking to believe it is Bill. I turned the flashlight on him; it was Bill, or at least looked like him. 

“Bill, where were you?” 

“I’m sorry, the dog got to me.” He said, not even slowing down as he rushed to hug me. “Are you okay?” He held me at arm's length. 

“Now, yes.” 

“I’m so sorry.” He looked at me sadly. “I should have been with you, stopped that thing from hurting you.” His expression was conflicted, as though he didn’t know if he did the right thing. 

“What happened?” 

“The thing won’t bother you or your sister again. It won’t be hurting much of anything anymore. Let’s get out of here and meet up with our twins.” Bill wrapped his arm in mine and started walking out of the cave. That’s when I noticed his pant leg, it was completely shredded, and covered in the yellow colored liquid. I squeezed his arm; he felt the squeeze and noticed where I was looking. “Just a little dog bite, nothing to worry about.” He smiled reassuringly.


	13. Spring Cleaning, or in this case Fall Cleaning

(Dipper’s POV)

The school day had just ended as we made it back into town. Mabel hugged me and let out a breath that sounded like she had been holding all day. Will greeted Bill with a smile, and somewhat of an awkward hug. 

“Did you pay attention today?” I questioned Mabel. Not expecting a positive answer.

“Yes, I did.” She said and handed me a piece of paper. One obviously not in her own handwriting. I looked at her suspiciously. “Okay, well at least Will did.” She scoffed and crossed her arms with a playful smile.

“Thanks.” I smiled at Will to show my gratitude. “Sorry my sister passed the task on to you.” 

“It’s no big deal.” Will answered shyly. Things were going fine, until Mabel looked at Bill. She had a knack for noticing little things, or might I say big things, and it didn’t take her long to see the holes and yellow colored spots of Bill’s pant leg. 

“What happened?” She questioned. Will followed her gaze and gave Bill an accusative look. I had never expected Will to look so threatening. 

“Just a little dog bite.” 

“That bite looks more like a shark bite.” Will commented. “And a big one at that.” He was glaring at his brother in a way I had never seen before. My only thought was that he must be frustrated with everything that is going on, and it seems that things are only piling up. On top of that I don’t know if Bill has been telling Will everything.

“I’m sorry, it was my fault. I tripped and fell while we were in the cave, and this thing caught up to us. I left Bill.” I apologized. Only now did the guilt hit me. I had left Bill alone, in that cave to fend off whatever monsters came to attack us. I should have been there to protect him; I know Bill would do that for me, so I should have done the same for him. However, in the moment the only thing I could think to do was run. 

“Jeez, for a genius you sure are dumb.” Bill commented and slapped the back of my head. “You didn’t leave me, you only did what I told you. To keep on running, and that saved you from getting a nasty bite like me. And it was my fault for being the idiot to trip at the last second.” 

“I should have stayed with you.” 

“Oh, yes, don’t you have some tests you want to run?” Bill changed the subject. A part of me wanted to continue to wallow in my failure, but Bill was right. There were a few tests I wanted to run. First of all was testing his ‘blood’. I doubted what he had been told was true. I mean, what human could live with only gold running through their veins? There has to be some organic material.

“Yeah, though, that will mean getting into Ford’s old lab. It will be difficult, but if I knew him as well as I thought I did the password should still be the same.” I commented as we started walking off towards the Shack. The first thing I will have to do is see what kind of condition the lab is in. Ford hadn’t used it in a long time, he had always been off traveling with Stan. For all I know he could have cleared it out; however, that was unlikely. As I was lost in thought an unfamiliar feeling caught my attention. That was when I noticed Bill had put his arm around my shoulders. He wasn’t looking at me when I turned to see what he wanted, and he seemed to not even be concerned about how close we were. Instead of pushing him off like I wanted to, it was an instinctive reaction to me, I let his arm stay like that. Even though I felt the need to push him away; it was a bad habit of mine to push people away, so maybe I should start working on that and now is as good of time as any. 

“Oh, Star, here’s your camera. I hope it didn’t get damaged or anything. I took some pretty great pictures.” Bill said and threw they camera as my sister. She caught it and wasted no time at looking through it. That’s when I broke away from him. Pictures, picture of what? Before I could snatch the camera away to look over the images before Mabel viewed them she ran away. I was too tired from walking around all day that I didn’t even try chasing her. 

“She’s fast.” Will commented quietly. Bill and I chuckled at the quiet interruption as Mabel was going to make it to the Shack long before us, and none of us seemed interested in running after her. Then I started getting worried. Was Bill’s teasing in the forest all for a picture to give to my sister for blackmail? Is this how it is going to be? Is he siding with my sister? Unnoticeable to me I started glaring at Bill.

“Aw, come on Pine Tree. I made sure they were only good pictures.” Bill teased as though that made things better. For the rest of the walk home I made sure to keep my distance from Bill. Most of the time I used Will as a wall between us. 

The second I stepped into the Shack I walked towards the old vending machine. It was on a hinge and would easily be swung out if you knew where the latch was; which I did. I hadn’t been down in the lab often even when we did visit, but since it was such a mysterious place to me I remembered as many details as possible about it. When I started pushing the vending machine out Bill and Will were looking at me as though all of the laws of the universe had been broken. 

“I don’t know why Ford wanted to keep his lab such a secret, but this is it.” I said and started punching in the numbers on a little keypad next to the hidden door. All of this was covered by a working vending machine so no one would suspect that there might be something behind it. 

“So cool!” Bill cheered and started moving the vending machine back and forth on its hinges. Honestly, I’m surprised it hasn’t broken off yet. The hinges must be at least twenty years old now. After he was done inspecting the vending machine he looked to the door that was now opening. It took me a few tries to open it. It seemed as though my memory wasn’t as good as I thought it was. “Whoa, this place is amazing. All these secret doors and passageways. Oh, which reminds me. I forgot to tell you, but I was bored and started looking around the room me and Will are in.”

“Will and I.” I commented. 

“You’re one of those then.” Bill said with a distasteful look on his face. “Anyways, Will and I.” He corrected. “I found a little opening. There wasn’t anything in there that I could find. I just didn’t know if you knew about it or not.” That was one I didn’t know about. I thought that room and the lab was the only hidden places here. 

“Do you know how big it was?” I asked as I remembered we might need a flashlight. Who knew if the light-bulbs down there still worked. Thankfully from our trip in the cave I had one on me. After turning it on I started walking down the stairs. The lab was more like a basement to the Shack. One that was full of scientific equipment. 

“No, I was too tired for that. Sleep is the best.” The last sentence was more of a side comment, and after that I could have sworn I heard him say something along the lines of; “It’s even better with you.” As I quickly checked behind me I was surprised it was just Bill and I. What happened to Will? Then my face scrunched up as I realized he was probably looking at the pictures Bill took of me that were now in Mabel’s possession. Sometime I am going to need to get my hands on that camera and delete every picture of me.

“How do you feel about needles? And cleaning?” I asked. The last question was after I realized we would need to clean this place up before I could do any tests if I wanted good results. 

“Cleaning, not my favorite, but I don’t mind needles.” Bill answered with a shrug. “Is there going to be a lot of cleaning?” 

“Yes.” I said just as I reached the last step. Using the flashlight I found the light switch and flipped it on. As I was scared would happen, the lights flickered for a moment before an almost simultaneous pop sounded from all of them. 

“Looks like no lights.” Bill said before he inhaled quickly and added. “But I don’t need any lights, you brighten up my world enough already.” 

“Bill!” I shouted and whacked him with the flashlight. “Stop with the jokes.” 

“That wasn’t a joke.” He said it so sincerely I had to ignore him and find some spare light-bulbs. Ford had to have some down here.

“Whatcha looking for Pine Tree?” He asked as he was leaning against the wall. 

“Light-bulbs.” I answered while walking towards the far wall. There was a great amount of shelving over there and if there were light-bulbs, that is where they would be. Bill hummed in response as he started moving around in the dark. “Bill, maybe you should stay there. At least until I turn the lights on.” He was pretty clumsy even with the light on, and the only time I had seen him not be clumsy was in the cave; which I’m assuming had to do with the things going on there and not so much as he wasn’t actually clumsy. Almost as if on cue there was a loud crash. “Bill! Are you okay?” I questioned and jumped around towards the source of the noise. “Bill?” I asked again, getting more nervous this time. That’s when I heard a soft laugh. The first thing I saw as I looked around a desk was Bill lying on the ground. The second thing I noticed was the gold blood. “What happened?” I rushed to his side. 

“Don’t worry… I… just fell.” He didn’t sound good at all. 

“Bill…?” As I knelt next to him I saw what was causing the blood. There was a pair of scissors in his chest. “Bill, are you okay?” The question was strained and I didn’t know what to do. These weren’t safety scissors, and I could only assume he fell on them. But how could he? They went straight into his chest. Scissors don’t just stand up like that waiting for someone to fall on them. 

“I don’t know.” Bill answered thoughtfully.

“I need to get you out of here.” As I said that I tried picking him up. The floor was a mess. The puddle had grown quickly and the coating of gold painted the floor. 

“Don’t… worry about it.” Bill said and pushed me away from him. As he fell back into a sitting position he yanked the scissors from his chest. 

“Bill! What are you doing?” Seeing how deep the stab had been, and the location it wouldn’t take a doctor to know it had reached his heart. At this point I was hyperventilating. It wasn’t helping anyone, but was I going to watch him die?! The thought crossed my mind quickly but faded just as fast as Bill started laughing. “Bill?” Mabel and Will called down from the top of the stairs; concerned by all of the noise. Bill had fallen back and hit his head against the concrete flooring; however, that didn’t stop his laughter. 

“Um, Mabel, don’t come down here. Everything's fine.” I lied. She couldn’t see Bill like this. It was almost impossible to keep my voice calm. 

“Are you sure bro-bro?” She sounded unsure; I could only hope that my voice hadn’t betrayed me.

“Yeah, Bill just fell again.” It wasn’t much of a lie. This time I was more sure that I had completely convinced Mabel everything was fine. 

“Okay, Will and I are going to walk around town. Call me if you need anything.” 

“Okay.” I felt like collapsing as one thing had been taken care of, but now Bill was another problem... He was still laughing, and that somehow calmed me but also gave me goosebumps. “Bill, what’s going on?” 

“Pine Tree, you have no idea how much this hurts.” He said and sat up. The flashlight was trained on him. He was covered in gold colored liquid. It looked as though he had just been rolling around in metallic paint. His hair was messy and had splotches of the gold liquid in it. He had a smile that seemed too bright for what just happened. “I just wanted to see if I could still back out on the deal. It seems like that’s a no. I mean, tell me that shouldn’t have killed me. I felt it go through my heart! Let me just tell you, it’s weird to feel your heart stop beating.”

“DID YOU TRY TO KILL YOURSELF?” I shouted loud enough that if Mabel and Will hadn’t made it a into the treeline they would have heard me. My throat hurt after the outburst, but I wanted to continue to yell at him. “What is wrong with you? You didn’t even tell me what you were planning! What if you did die? What would I do? Would would Will do?! You can’t be so reckless! You’re lucky you-” I broke out in a coughing fit before I could finish what I was saying. Instead of showing my frustration I gave up and hugged him tightly. “I’m happy you’re safe.” I whispered in his ear. 

“You worry too much.” Bill said in response; holding me tightly.

“You make me worry!” I tried pushing him away, but he held onto me tightly. 

“You don’t have to worry anymore.” 

“What did you do exactly? You can’t stab yourself that far with something so dull. You’re body would stop you.” 

“I fell onto it.” 

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked tiredly.

“A lot.” Bill’s voice was sad as he said that. 

“Well, let’s start getting everything figured out. And from now on you will only test something if you tell me first! No dumb ideas like stabbing yourself.” That got Bill to laugh softly; it was nothing like the crazed laughter from before. 

“You got it Pine Tree.” Finally he let me go and I was able to go grab the light-bulbs. 

“You’re cleaning up the mess, and don’t expect any help from me.” I scolded him once the last light-bulb had been screwed in. 

“So cruel.” He teased.


	14. Bill's Thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to apologize for before chapters, I feel like my plan for this fic has changed a lot, which makes it confusing. However, now I've created an outline to follow and things should get more linear and less confusing. I hope I didn't mess things up too bad.

(Dipper’s POV)

The cleaning of the lab didn't take too long. The lack of use over the years left a buildup of dust over some equipment, but those were easily cleaned. The only real mess was Bill’s makeshift blood. Bill was the only one cleaning that. He still was covered in his own layer of gold blood, but I checked the shower in the lab and it worked. There was no way I was going to let him go upstairs and track that gold everywhere. That would be too big of a mess to clean up.

“Hey Pine Tree, care to join me?” Bill asked and winked at me. 

“No.” I said evenly, and rolled my eyes. He really needs to calm down. 

“What am I supposed to do with my clothes after this?” 

“There’s an incinerator next to the shower. Just put your clothes in there they’re full of holes anyways; I'll turn it on later and grab you new clothes.” 

“This place has everything.” Bill said in amazement. I couldn’t tell if it was sarcasm or if he was serious.

“I’ll go upstairs to grab some things, clothes included. Now promise me you won’t do anything stupid.” 

“I can’t make any promises.” Bill teased with a smug smile. I left anyways, he already made too many dumb decisions to count so why bother trying to stop him. I mean, what’s the worst the could do? Burn himself with acid or fire, ‘fall’ into the incinerator; sure it had enough safety systems but with Bill nothing was safe, or break the incredibly expensive equipment. Okay, maybe thinking about this isn’t the best idea. It’ll only be for a few minutes, what’s the worst he could do? 

(Bill’s POV)

Pine Tree looked uneasy as he left me, but I could understand why. I stabbed myself on impulse, and didn’t think about how it might affect him. It’s just that an idea popped into my head. I know he wants me to tell him of all of my plans, but this one I think I can keep to myself. Maybe it will work, maybe it won’t. No sense it getting him worked up about it. Not like he could stop me if he wanted to, so what’s the point in worrying him. I’ll tell him eventually.

As I was passing by the ‘incinerator’, this place really does have everything; it’s a little creepy, I threw my clothes in there and closed the small door on it. I’m not going to miss those clothes. I had them for long enough, and there were already so many patched up holes in them even the cheapest person would have gotten rid of them already. Just before I walked away I noticed a red button next to it. ‘Don’t press the red button.’ I thought as I pressed it. Nothing happened for a couple seconds before a whooshing sound came from behind the small door of the incinerator. 

“Nice.” I mumbled and stepped into the small square room that worked as a shower and closed the curtain. It wasn’t much for a shower, but it was really nice for being in a laboratory. This shower was nothing like I expected. First of all there was all different kinds of items lining the walls. Different chemical names were listed on the sides of them. I didn’t pay them much attention and just turned the knob on, and, until I turned it I didn’t realize all there was was cold water. The water that rained down on me was borderline ice. I went to grab the knob again to turn it off when the should be frozen water stopped pelting me. When I looked at my arm that was reaching out the weirdest thing was happening. The water was bouncing off of nothing. Only a couple centimeters away from my skin the water suddenly changed course and slid away. “That’s counter-intuitive.” I commented. Not that the lack of freezing water was bothering me. 

Finally, after the freezing shower I found another way to clean myself off. Sure, it may have been magic, or not. Okay, it was what most would call magic. Basically, I thought about it, it happened. Same with new clothes; though that was an accident. Once I was clean I kept feeling the urge to keep going. To do more and more, and then the next second I was wearing a sweatshirt and pants; enjoying the warmth. It was much better than the ‘FREEZING COLD SHOWER’. I mentally screamed at the shower. Never again. I don’t care if my face is being melted off; I shall never enter that shower again. I’d rather hop in the incinerator and press the button myself. Even though it should be impossible it didn’t sound impossible for me. Great, that would only make Pine Tree worry more. I laughed at the thought. He really does worry too much about me when he barely knows me. It gives me a weird feeling that I don’t know if I really like or not. 

Eventually, the urge to continue the spree of making the impossible possible, like nice, comfortable clothes appear out of nowhere, got too much for me so I chose to lie on the floor where I couldn’t do any damage, but if I did break anything I could just fix it. No, I shouldn’t break anything to begin with. However, the lack of activity got me thinking. The deal was supposed to go like this. That thing changed my physiology so I can wield power that humans shouldn’t have, and that power would be given to me by that thing; which would eventually end in its metaphorical death. However, it’s supposed to be in control of that transfer. If I’m doing this now that means the energy transfer has started which means that thing is losing power, and it didn’t even know that when I came to visit today. Now it probably realizes it, would it be happy or scared? My job, as of the deal, is to continue its work and change the world it had been trapped in. Make more of those weird creatures it created, and help with it’s original plan which was to make the ‘perfect’ human. Sounds a lot like what some humans have been thinking. That wasn’t something I was too interested in. I was just going along with it until the thing was gone and I could do what I want. Then the thing brought up adding Star into the mess. It’s impatient. The realization made me feel like laughing. That’s all the better for what I have planned. Just some fancy words and the power should be all mine in a short amount of time. The thing will be gone, no one will be hurt, and everything can continue as though nothing happened, for the most part. 

“Hey, Bill.” Pine Tree said as he was walking down the stairs. He had some clothes in his hands and I just laid there staring at him. “Where did you get those clothes?” 

“Do I have gold in my hair?” I commented and ran my hand through my hair. Whoa, I did it again and again. My hair is so soft. “Pine Tree, feel.” I told him, at first he did nothing, and being impatient I grabbed his hand and ran it through my hair. He tried to look neutral, but I could tell he was thinking the same. “You can pull my hair if you want.” I whispered seductively after realizing the opportunity was there. That’s when Pine Tree turned around after throwing the clothes down and started walking off up the stairs. “No, baby come back.” I teased while holding back a laugh. I couldn’t see his face; which meant I couldn’t tell if his reaction was bad. He did this all the time, and it was starting to make me nervous. I chased after him and grabbed his shoulder to force him to look at me. He was blushing, but other than that I couldn’t see any reaction from him. “If I’m bothering you you can tell me to stop and I will. I just get the feeling from you that you don’t laugh often, and I want to make you laugh. But if what I’m doing it just making you feel worse then I’ll stop.” Pine Tree’s face was bright red and he just shook his head in response. “You want me to stop?” I guessed; not wanting to assume he didn’t mind it if he actually did. 

“No, it’s fine.”

“But what makes you laugh? You’re probably into periodic table jokes, aren’t you? Nerd.” I commented and affectionately flicked his bangs that covered his birthmark. That made him smile, but I still didn’t get a laugh. His hat, he’s not wearing it. “Where did your hat go?” It seemed to be a part of him, and it was weird seeing him without it. Though I’m not going to say it was a bad weird. Seeing his long, messy hair made me think about playing with it sometime. Wait, I’m getting sidetracked here, and isn’t that a little weird? 

“Well, since I was going to be working in the lab, and with some strong chemicals I didn’t want to risk ruining it.” 

“I see. I see.” I said with a head nod before walking around to his back and pushing him down the stairs. “Now let’s get to work. No stomping off on me.” 

“Yes, about that, I want you to fill this out on everything. Everything. Got it? Anything you can’t or won’t tell me, write it in here.” Pine Tree held out a notebook for me. “I realize there will be things you won’t tell me, but if anything happens to you I want to know why. If you fill that out I could read it in the case that something happens. Other than that I won’t touch it. No one will.” 

“I don’t need this.” I said and handed it back to him. He really had a thing about documenting everything. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know.” I couldn’t help but feel that was a lie. I did plan on telling him everything he should know, but there were things he didn’t need to know in any situation. It still felt wrong to keep it from him however. And maybe I haven’t always been truthful to him, okay that was really a never, but I can’t tell him the truth! He would have a heart attack before he graduated high school. I don’t even know why he bothers helping me out so much.

“No, you won’t.” It sounded like an accusation, and probably was one. Anyway, Pine Tree set the notebook on one of the lab tables and went over to a cabinet. “I’m going to have to get rid of half of these.” He commented as he pulled out clouded bottles. 

“What’s this?” I asked as I picked up one of the bottles.

“Don’t touch that!” As Pine Tree quickly shouted that and reached to pull the bottle out of my hand the topper on it popped off and hit the floor. It didn’t scare me, okay, maybe it made me jump, but just a little.

“Whoa! What was that?” 

“Concentrated perchloric acid. It reacts with even the slightest elevation of temperature, as you’ve just seen.” He said as he took the bottle from me and set it on the table. I now noticed that he held it carefully from the top. “So please, don’t pick up another bottle. I don’t even want to think what could happen if you… Never mind, just don’t touch anything.” 

“How do you know so much about this stuff?” I didn’t know the right way to put it, and just assumed he could understand what I meant. I wanted to know how he knew so much about the chemicals and procedures on how to handle them. Most of them I’m assuming I’ve never heard of. Are these strong chemicals even legal? Shouldn’t there be regulations on having these? This was getting interesting so I took a seat on the table behind Pine Tree to get ready to listen to what he had to say.

“My Great Uncle Ford taught me most of this. School also helped a little.” 

“I wonder what Will and Star are doing.” I commented as I remembered they left some time ago; not meaning to change the subject, but it was out now. “You know, your sister is really into getting blackmail on people.” That was something I noticed that concerned me.

“She just likes to make sure people won’t ditch out on her. Unfortunately, I’m probably the cause of that.”

“Don’t give yourself too much credit.” I said as I was kicking my legs while sitting on the table. As I said that, unintentionally, my foot made contact with Pine Tree. I kicked him on the butt. I wanted to slap myself right then, but as he turned around I tried my best to make it look intentional and winked. After he rolled his eyes and went back to what he was doing I covered my face with my hand. That just made things awkward. “What kind of jokes do you like? You never answered that.” Changing the subject was the only thing I could think to do. From that point on I made sure not to swing my legs.

“First, let me start out with, I am not a nerd.”

“Oh you are, there is not changing that Pine Tree.” 

“I’m not. But I do like science jokes… and puns.”

“Such a fucking nerd.” I whispered to mess with him. However, I didn’t know many science jokes. The only one I knew was the joke that went ‘what did the one cell say to her sister cell when she stepped on her toe. Mitosis.’ and the first time someone said that I wanted to slap the person who said it. Thankfully, I controlled myself and didn’t do it; that time.

“Well what kind of jokes do you like?” Pine Tree asked me. He didn’t even look at me as he said it so I assumed he just asked to be nice. 

“I love dark humor.” 

“Of course, did I really need to ask.”

“Hey Pine Tree, what did the sea say to the sand?” 

“Nothing, it just waved.” I pouted as he ruined my pun. 

“My ex still misses me-”

“No, not that one.” Pine Tree said as he nearly dropped the bottle of, something, he was holding. “Great Uncle Stan would say that all of the time.” 

“Sorry.” I mumbled. These puns aren’t getting any better. All I want to do is make him laugh! Why must he make this so hard? “What did the fish say when it hit a wall?”

“Dam.” 

“What puns haven’t you heard?” I exclaimed. All he did was shrug. After a few moments of thinking I thought of a few more. “I used to work at a bank, but then I lost interest.” 

“That’s lame even for you.” He teased. As his lack of interest continued I started wanting to mess with him, maybe freak him out a bit. However, I was going to be good and not make him freak out more. He’s been through enough today. 

“Would you like to hear a construction joke?” 

“No.” 

“Good, because I’m still working on it.” There was a moment of silence as I thought of the next pun, and Pine Tree didn’t seem interested. Maybe he was just faking it, but I will make him laugh. “I’ve heard about a scarecrow that won a prize. It was really outstanding in its field.” 

“How long are you going to keep this up?” 

“When you get depressed in the middle of winter, just throw some butter from your window. You’ll see a butterfly.” I swore at this one I heard something like a laugh escape him. “I used to suffer from a soap addiction, but I’m clean now. What lies on the ocean bed, twitching uncontrollably? A nervous wreck. Sounds like you.” The puns were getting harder to think of, but all I needed was one more. Then I can get to the one I have been working up to. “Velcro is just a big rip-off.” Pine Tree hadn’t laughed at all through the continuous puns. “Okay, okay, if this one doesn’t work then I give up. I was trying to make you laugh, but it looks like no pun in ten did.” I finished the barrage of puns. This got Pine Tree to finally break. It was apparent now that he had been holding back a laugh the entire time, but now he let a short laugh escape. Unfortunately, he covered his mouth before I could really hear it. “Come on! That’s all you’re going to give me! You know how hard it was to think of all of those?” 

“My laugh is stupid anyways, so you aren’t missing out on much.” He said once he got himself under control again. 

“I call bullshit.” Before we could talk anymore on the matter a crash from upstairs caught out attention.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to thank http://www.short-funny.com/best-puns-4.php for the puns. Also I am not sure if the perchloric acid is correct. I remember working with an acid in my advanced chemistry class that would do that when you picked it up from below the level of the chemical. It was a really cool, and I still love whatever chemical it was.


	15. For the Frogs!

(Mabel’s POV)

Will and I, well, really it was just me, crashed into the Mystery Shack. While we were out looking around the town we, I, came up with the greatest idea ever. Not too long after entering town we found a flyer about a nearby farm that had a corn maze and a petting zoo! When I saw the picture of the adorable animals I knew we needed to go. On top of that there was a pumpkin patch; with halloween coming up it was only tradition that we got pumpkins and carved them. 

“This is the best idea I’ve come up with in a long time.” I shouted triumphantly as I entered the Shack. 

“And what idea would that be?” I hear Bill ask me from the direction of the vending machine. It was weird to see the thing left open like that, but we didn’t have anyone to hide it from. The Mystery Shack was closed for the week. We needed some time to adjust to the new living conditions, and the fact that Soos wasn’t going to be here. It still hurt me to think about it. He’s going to be okay though. Just a few weeks in the hospital and he will be back with us.

“This!” I said and held the flyer out for him. As I turned to face him I was hit with emotions I thought I had pushed aside, but he’s just so hot! Somehow he had gotten some really comfortable looking clothes that actually, by some miracle, made him look even better. On top of that I could tell that he was feeling better, a little bit of humor showed in his eye. Telling emotions was my specialty and this was the first time that he let any real emotion show. Even if it is small. 

“What about it?” He asked quizzically. 

“We’re going!” He looked over the flyer again, and after a few seconds he started smirking. 

“That does sound like a good idea, but I think I’ve just come up with a better idea.” 

“No.” Will had his arms crossed; looking serious, yet unintimidating. 

“You don’t even know what the idea is yet!” Bill complained. 

“You’re ideas are rarely legal.” He countered. Bill looked about ready to say something back but gave up. 

“It’s still a good idea.” He muttered. “Okay, how about I tell everyone and then we vote on it!” 

“I vote no.” Will answered. 

“So it’s up to Star and Pine Tree. Well, let’s get him up here.” Bill ran down the stairs and came back with my brother in tow. “Now then, my wonderful idea that is only semi-illegal.”

“There’s only legal or illegal.” Dipper complained.

“Semi-illegal.” Bill said again. “Why don’t we visit this place? But going through a corn maze during the day is so boring. So, let’s sneak in at night. We can leave money to cover everything, and as long as we don’t get caught there will be no harm done.” 

“That sounds like a really bad idea.” Will commented. 

“No, it sounds like a good idea.” Bill looked extremely excited. Dipper also looked against it. To me the idea sounded bad and scared me a little. Sneaking into someplace in the middle of the night. The only time Dipper and I had done something like that was at that run down gas station that was recently been torn down and replaced with a newer one. I do have to admit that night wasn’t all that bad.

“I don’t see any harm in it if we leave money and don’t destroy anything.” I said with a shrug. 

“See, Star gets it.” Bill said excitedly before looking right at Dipper. It was up to him now. “Whatcha think? Great idea, right?” Bill grabbed Dipper’s shoulders and looked at him with a childish glee. There was no way Dipper could say no like this. I could see him think about it. His better judgment was probably telling him to say no, but to see Bill so excited and happy when all of these scary things were happening to him. How could anyone say no? 

“I-I guess, but we have to leave money.” 

“Of course!”

~ ~ ~

(Dipper’s POV)

The plan was set for Saturday, that night we had talked out the logistics and, of course, Bill said he had everything covered. With it only being Wednesday we had a few days to reconsider the plan. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea, okay, I’ve come to terms with the fact that with Bill no plan is a good plan but maybe this could get us in real trouble. And with most classes being easy I had a lot of time to think about it. At some points in the day Bill would toss wads of paper at me, or walk around the classroom for various reasons and knock the stuff off my desk to bother me; it was like he could tell what I was thinking and would stop me every time I started getting doubts about Saturday. 

“Now class, I know how much you hate lectures, so instead of boring you to death I thought it would be fun to do some dissections…” I watched Mabel’s face change as the teacher mentioned ‘dissection’. It was the one thing she couldn’t handle. She has been that way her entire life, and didn’t seem like she was going to change anytime soon.

“What are we going to be dissecting?” Bill asked, interested, but also ready to be let down if it was something stupid. 

“Frogs. I was lucky enough to get a few samples we can use if we pair up.” Bill sighed, not interested anymore. The teacher was speaking some more, but the only thing I was focusing on was the fact that Mabel had a sour expression. Any moment she might start shouting for animal rights. “I will now pass out the procedure we will be following.” 

“Wait, we have to kill the frogs too?” Pacifica said flabbergasted as the procedures were set on her desk. At that Mabel rushed out of the room. I followed her out and caught her just before she ran out of the school. 

“Mabel, you don’t have to show up for class that day. I’m sure the teacher would understand.” I told her, however, it did little comfort her.

“It’s not the fact that I’m doing it. It’s the fact that they are going to kill those poor frogs for no other reason than to cut them open! I can’t let something like this happen.” I knew it was impossible to argue with her. Even though dissections were a necessary part of medical and other biological research; I realize this situation didn’t call for the killing of frogs. No one here was going to do anything with the information they learned. It was just a dumb excuse to gross out the students. Most didn’t plan on going into a medical research field anyways. Well, maybe me, but I don’t need to work on frogs. 

“Mabel…” She started crying. She really does have a big heart. 

“Whoa, Star what’s wrong?” Bill instinctively said as he stepped out into the hallway. He probably left the classroom to see what was going on. 

“It’s so stupid! They can’t kill those frogs for doing nothing wrong.” She complained. He silently made an ‘oh’ as he realized what was bothering her. For a short time both of us had gone quiet and the only sound was Mabel’s quiet sobs. 

“Hey, I passed by the supply room on my way out and noticed a tank with frogs and, partial frogs, in it. That’s probably the ones we are going to be using. So, since we know where they are going to be. Maybe, we can get to them before the class does?” Bill offered. 

“Really? How many were there? How big is the tank?” Mabel stopped crying all at once to beg Bill for answers. “We need to get them out of here.”

“I couldn’t agree more, but we can’t do it right now.” He was acting as excited as Mabel, but I could tell he was faking it. He didn’t seem to be an animal rights activist, and didn’t have a problem with the dissections until now, but for Mabel’s sake he was willing to act. It was a kind action, but how are we going to get these frogs out of here?! 

“We need to get back to class right now. Why don’t we talk about this later?” I sighed. This is a bad idea. 

The rest of the school day went by in a flash. Bill and Mabel were passing notes. Probably plans for after school. Will would look over Mabel shoulder when she was reading a note and normally had to roll his eyes. Once I heard him muffle a laugh. Mabel shot him a look and then placed her index finger on her lips to keep him quiet. Our little square seemed to change every day. It was a little messed up considering our seats were taken when we showed up. That was the bad part about having no seating chart. Bill was behind me, Will to my side and Mabel in front of him. 

“Now, with the last few minutes of class why don’t you work on your vocabulary.” The teacher instructed us. No one ever did the vocabulary work. It was writing down words over and over again with the meaning to memorize it. It felt more like a torture method in my opinion. Even I didn’t do it anymore. The second the teacher sat in his desk everyone started speaking. 

“Is it a plan?” Bill asked instantly. Mabel nodded. 

“But are you sure no one will be here?” 

“Who the hell would be in a school or work that late at night?! Not even the janitors stick around that long.” Well that doesn’t sound reassuring. 

“I guess you’re right.” Mabel nodded. She then piled up all of the notes that ended with her and tossed them into the recycling. From what I had been following only one piece of paper had ended up with Bill, and that was the one that had made Will laugh. What was written on that piece of paper? The bell rang and everyone started running out the door. Pacifica stopped by Mabel. She was whispering something in her ear. “I’m sorry, I can’t tonight.” She answered sadly. “How about tomorrow?” Pacifica nodded; though she still looked a little disappointed. What was that about? It was my sister’s life and I wasn’t going to intrude, but I was still curious. I was beginning to think I was being left out of a lot of things.

“Come on.” I jumped as Bill pulled me from my seat quickly. We rushed into the storage room. “You don’t have to come with us tonight. When we are picking up the frogs.” Bill said as he tapped the glass. There was a small part of wood floating on top of the water that a partially developed frog was sitting on. Most of them still had tails, and the least developed one barely had legs.

“I need to make sure you don’t get into trouble.” I answered. Bill smiled at my comment. 

“Me? Get in trouble. What do you mean?” He said sarcastically, glancing at me. “These things look so weird. Part tadpole, part frog. I hate frogs.” Bill commented as he continued to tap the glass. The tadpoles and partially metamorphosed frogs moved away from the noise. 

“You know, tapping the glass isn’t a good idea.” I stated. 

“Yeah, well, I guess I should try and keep these frogs alive, shouldn’t I? Problem is that we can’t just dump them in some random pond. The water could be poisonous to them. That would kill them before any predator could get to them.” That was true. They were used to clean water. Most likely tap water with some treatment, which lacked a lot of the chemicals and elements you would find in a natural pond.

“There is no way we are keeping these frogs.” I commented. There were seven frogs, and that was seven too many for us.

“Do you think your sister knows how dangerous it could be to dump them in a pond?” 

“Maybe, maybe not.” Bill nodded. 

“Well, I guess we’ll find out.” So that’s what we’re going to do? Get them out of here to put them somewhere else where they might die within hours. Well, I guess at least this way they have a chance to live. If they stay here it’s a guarantee, but at least it would be quick. Though, in an ecosystem their death has a chance of benefiting another animal. Unlike here.


	16. For the Frogs (Continued)

(Dipper’s POV)

We left at eight that night to make it to the school by nine. Mabel was singing and dancing about frogs on our way there. Bill was walking close to her, but far enough away he wouldn’t get slapped or kicked. Will was also with us. He sounded reluctant to go, but refused to let us leave without him. It was lucky that Mabel and Bill were far enough away from us so I could ask Will a question.

“Hey, Will, what did that note say that made you laugh in the middle of class?” I asked Bill about it before, but it seemed that he refused to admit that it ever happened. Will brightened for a moment.

“That was Mabel’s response to a question. She really has a unique way to do everything.” 

“What was her response?” 

“She drew a picture. I can show you it.” 

“You have it?” I was surprised. Didn’t Bill have it? 

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve grown up around Bill. I kind of picked up a few of his tricks.” Pickpocketing? I don’t approve, but I can admit that it is useful. 

“I need to see it.” Will handed me a folded up piece of paper. I unfolded it and looked at the picture. It was a poorly drawn picture of Bill and I kissing. I nearly crumpled up the paper and tossed in into the forest lining the road we were walking on when I noticed writing on the back. 

Tip # one - JUST GO FOR IT! DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!

It was in Mabel’s fancy handwriting. It always intrigued me how at sometimes her writing could look like a third graders, and at other times it looked like calligraphy. I didn’t know what the question was, but I had a few ideas. I folded the paper back up and handed it back to Will, who looked satisfied. Then his look changed quickly. 

“I just wanted to say sorry. About everything. I mean, your sister and you are doing so much for us. More than I ever expected anyone to do.” Will said quietly. “Thank you.” 

“It’s no big deal. I mean, if my sister is anything to go by we can’t let anyone or anything suffer.” 

“Dipper, do you think Bill will die?” Instinctively, I broke out in goosebumps at the mention of death. Bill, die? That seemed impossible, especially with the incident in the basement. I think he wanted to know that too. Is that even possible now? What if it isn’t? Would that be worse? 

“No, he’ll be fine. He’s always positive, and positivity leads to a longer life.” Unlike me, who gets so stressed out all of the time, I will probably die ten years early because of heart problems related to stress.

“Not really, he just acts happy all of the time. Most days he is extremely sad. I can always tell. I blame the fact that we are identical twins.” Will seemed to be running through so many thoughts at the moment. “You know, there was research that said that identical twins have very similar intelligence, more similar than fraternal twins and siblings. I’ve always wonder why he seemed to fail every test then. If he is supposed to be as smart as me he shouldn’t fail any test. I think he’s doing it on purpose.” Why would he fail tests on purpose? How anyone could fail a test always escaped me though, so I wasn’t the person to answer that question. 

“Or maybe you two are an exception?” I guessed. Then I decided to ask Will a personal question about Bill. One I still didn’t know if I could believe. “Did Bill really lose his eye to a crayon?” considering the abuse they went through, it could have been his parents. Will paled a little and I wanted to take the question back after seeing his reaction. 

“Yeah, I can’t believe he actually told you the truth.” Will let out a nervous laugh. “That memory still freaks me out. I didn’t know there would be so much blood, and he was so quiet I thought he was dead. The older we get the more I start to believe it was attempted suicide. I didn’t know about that back then, but he seemed to accumulate knowledge so quickly, maybe he knew.” Right then Will started crying and I started freaking out. What am I supposed to do? 

“Will, don’t think about it. You both were too young to consider something like that.” I tried comforting him. 

“He talked about being my guardian angel back then.” Will said quietly before continuing to cry. Even though I always hated physical contact I hugged him. 

“What happened then doesn’t matter anymore. What matters now is that Bill is still here and is looking out for you.” I whispered to him. By now I could tell Mabel had noticed Will’s crying; she had stopped singing. 

“I’m sorry I’m such a crybaby.” 

“I don’t think you’re a crybaby. You have more than enough reasons to cry.” I commented. By now Bill was facing me as I tried to calm Will down giving me a ‘what the fuck?’ look. 

It took almost three minutes for Will to stop crying, and the entire time I was hugging him. It was extremely awkward, and made me uncomfortable. Once I was able to let go of Will I did. We continued walking to the school with minimal questions. Mabel just asked what made him cry and Will made up a lie about a sad puppy story. Saying he saw a dead puppy in a dumpster earlier today. Mabel almost cried as he told her the story. Bill however, didn’t ask any questions and just walked behind the group for the rest of the walk. 

“Huh? The door’s locked.” Mabel stated as she tried to open the door. I shook my head at the obvious conclusion. It would have been shocking if it wasn’t locked. Bill pushed passed me and started messing with the lock. It only took twenty seconds for him to open the door. He’s an experienced lock-pick.

“You have to teach me how to do that!” Mabel whispered. 

“I don’t know if I should.” Bill commented. 

“You never know when you’ll be locked in a room.” I started and shrugged. It was a likely conclusion that someone may get locked in a room at some point in their life, and it would be much easier if they could unlock the door themselves instead of counting on someone else. 

“Okay.” Bill started explaining how it is done. I already knew how to do it, but putting it into practice was a lot more difficult than learning it. 

“This is our stop.” I commented as we reached the classroom door, the two in the lead had continued walking past the door. There really was only the need for one classroom, but this building worked as more than just a school. Other rooms were rented out as office space or whatever else someone wanted to use it for.

“Will, Star, why don’t you two wait out here and warn us if anyone shows up.”

“I thought you said no one would be here?” Mabel complained.

“There shouldn’t be, but it’s always a good idea to be cautious.” He then proceeded to grab me by my arm and pull me into the classroom. Things got concerning when he closed the classroom door. What is up with him? I couldn’t help but feel that I was missing something. He had been acting weird since Will was crying. Was he mad? He did give me a weird look as I was hugging Will. Does he think I made his brother cry on purpose? The classroom was terribly dark, but with the windows on the far wall shadows could be seen of the objects in the room. 

“What do I have to do to get you to treat me like that?” Bill complained. 

“What do you mean?” Not knowing what he meant only made things worse. What is he talking about?

“I want to get hugs from you. Does that mean I have to start crying?” He sounded sarcastic with the last question. 

“Please don’t start crying.” I told him with a little bit of humor. This was beginning to make more sense now.

“But what do I have to do to get hugs from you?” My face was heating up as Bill brought his face centimeters from mine. He looked determined. “What do I have to do Pine Tree?” He asked again, more seriously. 

“I’m an awkward hugger.” I responded. 

“I don’t care.” 

“But maybe you do.”

“Or, maybe I don’t.” 

“Let’s not talk about this in the middle of the classroom.” I pushed him away. 

“I’m not stopping until you tell me what I need to do because I’ll do anything.” 

“You don’t need to do anything.” 

“Then why don’t you hug me?”

“Because I didn’t know you wanted me to hug you.” I answered. This was too awkward. A fight over hugs, really? All this because I wanted to get Will to stop crying before anyone noticed. 

“Well, be sure to hug me regularly from now on.” Bill said with a smirk and walked off into the storage room with the frogs. “Are you going to help me or not Pine Tree?” He called from the room. “Never mind.” He then added as a crash startled me. What did he do this time? 

“What happened?” As I ran into the cramped, dark room I could tell that the tank wasn’t where it was before. 

“Nothing I can’t fix.” For a moment I couldn’t tell if I blinked or not. One second it looked like the tank was missing and the next it was sitting just where it was supposed to be. “Want to help me carry this?” The tank wasn’t too big, but it was large enough two people would be able to carry it comfortably. 

“Sure, I just wish there was more light.” I commented as I stepped into the dark room. The light switch for this room was inconveniently placed at the back of the building. 

“Well, I guess that would be helpful. I like the dark though.” Bill commented. “So, how mad would you be if I decided to do something… fun, for Halloween?” 

“What do you mean by ‘fun’?” 

“I mean making a haunted house. I’ve snuck into so many of those places that everything is so boring now. I know I can make a better one than anyone else.” As I lifted up my side of the tank I tried to stop myself from rolling my eyes.

“How do you plan to do that?” 

“Practice. I can make the things I want appear out of nowhere already, so if I practice maybe…”

“An entire building?” He has made some small things like a cup of coffee that never could be spilled appear. That was my favorite thing. Tip it upside down, coffee is still inside. No more burns in the morning! He made it this morning after I spilled coffee on myself. I didn’t even get burns from it but it was a big deal to him. 

“Wait, idea! Make the school dissapear!” 

“No Bill.” I backed my way out of the small room. Bill following me carefully making sure water didn’t spill out as we weren’t very good at keeping it from sloshing about. “That’s a bad idea.” 

“It would only be for a day.” He complained. 

“Do you know how noticable that would be? Everyone would freak out.”

“Only you, nerd.” Bill commented. 

“I’m sure other people would too.”

“Sure, if you mean throwing a party.”

“You can’t even do something like that if you tried. It’s completely impossible.”

“We’ve been seeing a lot of impossible lately.” that was true, but seriously? The school? What is he thinking? 

“Hey Mabel, could you open the door?” I said louder so my sister could hear me through the door. She opened it and we walked out of the classroom. Mabel jumped with joy as she saw the tank full of semi-developed frogs. 

“What took you two so long?!” 

“I know! Pine Tree is so slow.” Bill teased. They chattered back and forth for a while as we made our way through the hallways carefully. Bill brought up the idea to Mabel about a haunted house and she started her own plans, saying that it would be perfect for earning money. Since we were taking a week off to figure everything out we were missing out on a lot of profits, and if that haunted house worked out we could make up for that lost time. Soon they agreed on a plan, and it was set. I didn’t even try and protest it; mainly because the money part of it was important. We need that money. 

“Wait, Dipper, watch out.” Will said as we were heading for the door. It was too little too late. Whatever it was that caught his attention already tripped me and the tank was coming down with me. 

“Not again!” Bill complained. The tank landed with a crash. Water and frogs spilling out everywhere. 

“NO!” Mabel shouted, standing frozen. No one moved for the fear of stepping on one of the frogs. 

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” Bill answered. He stood still for a moment before sighing. “I’m not promising this will work out perfectly. I haven’t done this before.” He said before snapping his fingers. There was a sound of glass on tile and in the dim light we could watch the tank return to its original shape.

“Didn’t you do that in the storage room?”

“That was different. I just sent it back in time a few seconds. However, I’d need to move both of us and the tank back in time if I wanted to do that this time. Or put it back into the classroom. Both would be too much work. Though… I don’t know how the frogs will be now.” He coughed a little as he finished speaking. 

“What do you mean?” 

“They might end up with no eyes or ears, all of the ears or legs from all of the frogs on one. Inside out. You know, deformed.” Bill shrugged. “Anyways. Let’s check them out.” A large light appeared over the tank. “Looks like they are all okay! Oh, wait, maybe not this one.” He finished quietly. He reached into the tank and grabbed one frog that was floating on the surface. As he picked it up it folded in on itself, as though empty. 

“What happened? Can you fix it?” Mabel asked hopeful. 

“No.” Bill answered quickly. 

“We were supposed to save all of the frogs.” She said quietly. “Are you sure there is nothing you can do?” Bill nodded. He was about to squish the frog in his hand as Mabel started speaking again. “Please! There has to be something!” She begged. 

“I can’t bring back this frog. It’s missing it’s insides, on top of that I don’t know it’s frequency.” He spoke in a distasteful manner. 

“Has that thing been giving you lessons?” I watch his hand squeeze the frog and turn it to dust. 

“Yes, it was on my request however. I wanted to know if you can bring back the dead. You can, but you have to know the frequency that being has. Everyone is different, it’s basically the soul. So could I bring that frog back, yes, but with another animal’s frequency. Which I don’t know if you want a barking frog.” 

“Why did you want to know that?” At my question everything went silent. Bill turned to me with a strained smile. This only made me more curious. 

“Everyone dies eventually. I want to know how to stop that.” In a flash his mood, expression, and movements changed. He was back to being upbeat and positive. “Anyways! Let’s get out of here.” 

It took forever for our small group to make it back to the Mystery Shack. Half way through Mabel and Will swapped with Bill and I. We set it down in the gift shop to figure out what to do with the rest of them tomorrow. All of us, except Bill, just wanted to relax. So we sat down in the living room and turned on the television. Mabel was sitting in the chair upside down, while Will and I sat on the couch. Bill was nowhere to be found. It concerned me a little, but I wasn’t going to monitor everything he did.


	17. A Cornfession Amongst the Maize

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to be funny. I’m sorry this fic is lacking the important shipping content, and it’s almost done. But I’ve already started planning a second bit that will be 100x the ship and 1,000x better, also probably smut because I need the smut practice. Unless no one wants it, in which case, no smut. Just the fluff. Its just going to go down hill real fast for the rest of this however, so please hold on, keep arms and legs from flailing at all times, and don’t throw your electronics.

(Mabel’s POV)

“Would you two slow pokes hurry up?!” I shouted as Dipper and Bill were walking sooo slowly. We were only a few feet away from the farm. This week had been great since we stole the frogs. One of them may have died, but that’s okay. The rest are safe in the attic with me. Will helped me decorate their tank so they wouldn’t get easily bored. We emptied out a lot of the water so we could make a little island out of rocks that they could sit on. I stuck a candy cane in it to add some color, but Will convinced me to remove it soon after. The sugary treat is probably bad for them. 

“Why don’t we pick out the pumpkins?” Will offered. 

“Great idea! We’re going to the pumpkins.” I spoke loudly, but didn’t shout this time in case someone else heard me. Bill gave me a thumbs up and Will and I took off. “What’s up with them? Do you think Dipper is getting too serious about what’s going on with Bill?” 

“I think Bill is getting too serious about what’s going on with him.” Will answered. Over the past few days Will changed a lot. It kind of made me nervous. Before he was always scared for Bill, but now he didn’t seem to care. Almost like he had given up. 

“What do you mean?” 

“There’s not a lot we can do. I mean, I’ve tried to find a way to close that demon off, but it requires a unicorn horn! A crystal of some sort, and a mermaid’s scale.” I stared at him for a few moments. “Dipper and I looked at those pictures of the hieroglyphs. I couldn’t stop after they started making sense to me.” 

“So that’s why you stayed up all night the night before?” I remember him looking at my camera then, but didn’t know that’s what he was doing. I didn’t disturb him because he looked intensely focused, and from my experience with Dipper, you don’t bother someone like that. He nodded. 

“How would we find any of those things? They’re all not real.” 

“Hey, don’t say that! I’m sure we’ll be able to find ourselves a unicorn, a mermaid, and that crystal! I mean,-” I stopped mid sentence. Where do you find crystals? In caves. And where is the nearest cave? Not again! “Look at that pumpkin!” I exclaimed as a distraction. The first thing you saw as you entered the pumpkin patch was a pumpkin that had to weigh at least four hundred pounds.

“Oh god.” Will whispered. “How did they think that would be encouraging?” He commented on the fact that the pumpkin was set atop the only entrance into the pumpkin patch. Wooden planks were the only thing between the ground and the pumpkin. 

“Oh great pumpkin, do I have permission to enter your pumpkin patch?” I ran underneath it and started speaking upwards.

“Mabel, get out from under there.” Will said worriedly. 

“Yes Mabel, you and your friend both have my permission.” I added in the best grumbling old man’s voice I could muster. “Come on, let’s go.” Will finally stood close enough I could drag him under the pumpkin. I pulled him to the other side; thinking that maybe just pulling him under the pumpkin would be fun, but considering how fearful he is of it that it would probably be a mistake. “See? you’re fine.” I comforted him once he opened his eyes and found he was standing in the pumpkin patch. Will began to smile nervously. 

“I’m sorry I got scared.” 

“Wait, I see the cute couple. I forgot my camera!” That is depressing. Now what am I supposed to do? I won’t have anything from Dipper and Bill’s first date! Bill had informed Will and I about how he was going to try and make this the best date possible, though, that was awhile ago and he seemed a little more distant now. On top of that, Dipper didn’t seem willing to think of it as a date.

“You mean this?” Will brought out my camera from his sweatshirt pocket. “I noticed you left it on your nightstand and decided you probably wouldn’t want to forget it.” 

“You’re the best.” Every time I hugged Will I felt a little sad. He was so skinny, and I have been trying to force him to eat more. I’ve been making a lot of snacks recently. However, that did little to improve his weight. It’s almost like worrying alone causes him to lose weight. It probably does with how much worrying he does. “But let’s pick out some pumpkins first. They deserve some alone time.” 

Half an hour later we picked out the pumpkins and set the money on the counter where you would pay for them during the day. To keep the money from blowing away we put pebbles on it. I got the idea to put the pebbles in the shape of a heart. It looked incredibly cute. We dragged the pumpkins out of the pumpkin patch and set them near the entrance of the farm, easy to pick them up on our way out. 

“Now let’s go annoy our brothers!” 

(Dipper’s POV)

“What do you mean you’re lost?” By now I was getting annoyed with Bill. He kept leading me around in the corn maze only to say something along the lines of ‘oops took a wrong turn back there’. Bill shrugged. For the most part he was good at keeping a straight face, but every once in awhile his mouth would twitch into a smile. 

“I thought I knew where I was going, but I guess I don’t.” He finally gave up at trying to look neutral. “Why don’t you lead us out Pine Tree? Be my hero.” He teased. 

“Stop messing around.” I complained. He gave me the best innocent look he could muster; which wasn’t very convincing. 

“What do you mean Pine Tree? I really corn’t remember how to get out of here. It’s all up to you.” I paused as I heard his horrible attempt at a joke. “Though, you have to admit, this maze is a-maize-ing.” 

“Bill, what are you doing?” He was turned to the side, and I could momentarily see his eye dart to look at me. He then quickly turned to face the corn. 

“Walking around helplessly lost because you won’t help me find the way out.” He spoke in a very convincing voice; holding his arms out for emphasis. He may be a good liar, but I know he’s smarter than that. 

“We both know you know how to get out of here just fine.” 

“Oh, but do you?” Strangely his question caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up and goosebumps to cover my arms. He was facing me now and staring at me with a simple smile. I refused to answer his question because the answer is no. I don’t, and it seems like that’s what he wants. 

“What’s going on?” I wanted to add, ‘with you’, but there was too much to that question. 

“I just want to spend some alone time with you. Without worrying, without thinking about the invisible clock ticking above my head that’s about to reach midnight signaling the end of my normal life. Maybe it’s already over, but I want to hold onto some of it yet.” He looked up at the starry sky for a moment. “You know, Pine Tree, I think I love you.” I nervously laughed. 

“Don’t you think that’s a little much? We don’t really know each other and sure…” 

“I didn’t say it to get a response from you. It was a statement.” He said it like a command, and I found myself unable to say anymore. “I want to show you something.” Bill said with a lighthearted smile. Trying to break the uncomfortable aura he had created. He took one step closer to close the distance between us and set his hands on my shoulders. “Look up.” I did as he told me and was surprised to see the sky in a way I never have before. Like I am looking through a high tech telescope, but there is no limit to how much sky I can study. Lights unseen to the human eye created misty clouds surrounding stars. The constellations lit up like a map in the sky. 

“Bill, what?” I questioned while continuing to look up. I didn’t dare take my eyes off of the sky for fear the sight would go away. 

“Things just look different to me now. It’s…” I set my hands on his arms below the elbow. Two thoughts crossed my mind at once. Maybe this change isn’t all for the worst, and, can he even be considered human anymore? Both thoughts scared me. As we stood in the middle of the corn field silently, some rustling caught my attention. Then as soon as I turned my head there was shouting from outside of the corn maze. A man’s voice, one I didn’t recognize. We’ve been caught. “Sounds like that’s our cue to leave.” Bill spoke and started dragging me through the corn. Instead of following the path that was made we torn through the maze creating our own path. 

“Mabel?” I questioned as I spotted her in the maze with Will. She had her camera in her hand and a frightened expression on her face. They quickly started following us. 

“This way.” He commanded and started dragging me by the hand down a path in the maze that lead to a few stalks of corn that had grown into the fence surrounding the farm. A flashlight was lighting up a small section of land just outside of the maze. He is far enough away we’ll probably make it just fine. 

“The pumpkins!” Mabel yelled. 

“Where are they?” Bill shouted back.

“By the entrance.” 

“Got it.” With that Bill let go of my hand and started running to the left. Towards the entrance, and towards the man. I wanted to tell him not to worry about it, but he was gone. Instead, I continued to run straight. 

We made it through the fence with little damage. I had snagged my pants, and probably received a small cut; Mabel had gotten her hair caught, and Will was the only one to make it through without any problems. The three of us continued to run. Until we couldn’t see the maze and met up on the road a short ways down. We stopped there, to wait for Bill and catch out breath. 

“Now this one's a keeper!” Mabel said cheerfully as she held out her camera. She let me take a peek at the picture she is talking about, but only a peek. 

“Mabel… I need that picture.” I whispered to her. The picture was of Bill and I as we were looking up at the sky. Nearly a foot apart, his hands on my shoulders and my hands on his arms. I felt it was a good representation of how we are. Separated by nothing, yet that space is still there. I can’t be with him with all that is going on, even if I do like him and enjoy hanging out with him. Even if the reckless side of me wants it. Mabel and I will be leaving soon, I know it because of a call. Our parents know about Soos. The hospital called them, so they called me yesterday. They’re going to be dragging us back home. Mabel and I knew deep down that this would happen, but it was fun while it lasted. Also, traumatic. 

“Greatest. Night. Ever.” Bill commented as we finally spotted him walking down the road. As he got closer the moonlight gave us more detail of him. A liquid, gold, is covering his entire front side. “Catch.” He threw a pumpkin at Mabel, me, and finally Will. “I think I scarred that man for life.” Bill laughed. 

“What happened?” I was the only one to ask that question. 

“Well, I didn’t know the guy had a shotgun.” Bill shrugged as though that wasn’t a big deal. “ I scared him, he shot me, the fact that I didn’t die or have much of a reaction made him question his sanity and he is probably still standing where I left him.” He quickly finished his story. “But you should have seen his face!! Pure terror! This is one night he won’t be able to forget.” 

“Are you stupid?” I complained.

“I’ve been told that I am.” He answered quickly, with a hint of humor. 

“I didn’t mean it as a comment on your intelligence, just the fact that pumpkins are not worth getting shot over! It must be your common sense that’s lacking.” 

“Aw, do you worry about me Pine Tree?” He teased.

“Yes! I thought we sorted that out already.” 

“You shouldn’t.” These words were so certain and forceful that I wasn’t even sure that Bill had said them. It was as though the words echoed in my mind. “Now then, who wants to have a pumpkin fight?” He completely changed the topic.

“That sounds dangerous.” I quickly commented. 

“We’re not going to fight with the whole pumpkin, just the insides. It’ll be like a food fight. Just will smell worse.” Mabel’s eyes widened with joy.

“Resourceful.” She whispered breathlessly in awe. 

“Okay, but how about we do that tomorrow. When you’re not covered in… that.” I pointed at Bill. I have no clue what to call his makeshift blood. 

“Good point.” Bill shrugged as he looked down at his clothes. “Also getting back to the Shack will be loads of fun.” He said sarcastically.


	18. Bill Takes His Leave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize that this chapter is rushed. I wanted to write more, but why drag out a story that I planned to end sadly anyways? Instead, I will speed up the process a little so we can get to the real Billdip action.

(Dipper’s POV)

Bill was right, getting back to the Shack was the greatest adventure of all. The sarcasm runs so deep the bottom of the ocean can’t compare. Our feet hurt and I was tempted many times to throw the pumpkin. Whenever I started considering it Bill would always say something along the lines of; ‘I can take the pumpkin if you can’t carry it’, which made me determined to carry it all the way back to the Shack. I completed my task, but my arms and legs felt less like limbs and more like wooden stakes attached to my body. Within seconds of making it into the Shack I was asleep.

The sleep lasted a few hours, until a noise in my room woke me up. It was soft, and I didn’t completely understand how the soft sound of the door closing could wake me up. All I knew was that someone else was in the room with me now. In the shadows I was able to make out a figure, and I could guess who it is from his frequent late night visits. 

“Bill? What are you doing?” There was no response, the figure moved closer to the bed, leaving the door behind him. Finally, I sat up and brought my legs closer to me. He stepped into the light from the window and I was able to confirm that it is Bill. However, he was too quiet. Shouldn’t he be loud and obnoxious? As my eyes focused on him I noticed dark splotches. “Bill?”

“Heya Pine Tree.” His voice was distant; as though his mind was somewhere else. He took a seat at the end of my bed. For what felt like minutes he sat there silently. “Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I shouldn’t disturb your sleep for much longer.” 

“What do you mean?” I finally moved from the spot I had found myself frozen in. As I took a seat next to Bill, the dark splotches stood out more. I moved to touch one and he grabbed my hand. 

“I’m sorry Pine Tree, my selfishness has gotten you trapped in a love story with no happy ending. I hope it was fun while it lasted. Thank you for caring about me, not many people do.” 

“What are you going on about?” I whispered. Bill brought my hand to his lips where he gently kissed it. A spark seemed to radiate from that spot; giving me energy like I had just had four energy drinks and I could run a marathon, and I don’t run. 

“Goodbye.” He said, and for once I felt the certainty of that farewell. As I blinked he vanished. The only thing in the spot where he once was sat the journal I had given him. Still filled with energy I turned on a lamp and started looking through it. I skimmed the pages, every one filled with writing and drawings. Even the covers had writing on them. 

~ ~ ~ 

Only a few pages in the energy drained from me and I found myself falling asleep again. I awoke with my face pressed against the open pages of the journal. My neck ached from the awkward sleeping position. In my reading I had left off on Bill’s ramblings of the many creatures that could actually be found in Gravity Falls. The hide behind gave me the creeps. 

“Yo Dip-dot, how’s it going?” Mabel questioned as she knocked on my door; trying to make music, but her rhythm was off. Groggily I opened the door. When I faced her she looked more nervous than she had sounded at first. “I thought you were dead bro! You slept through it!” 

“Slept through what?” 

“I have no idea how to explain it! These dudes showed up, social services or something, and they took Will! On top of that Bill is nowhere to be found! When Will tried to talk about him they looked at him like he was crazy. What the hell is going on?” By the end of her rant Mabel was shouting and nearly crying. “I’m sorry, but what is going on?” She looked to me as though I had all the answers; when in fact, all I have is a journal full of scribbles. 

“I don’t know, but I know who does.” Of course Bill had something to do with this. “Give me some time, and, you’re going to want to start packing. I have a feeling we aren’t going to be staying here much longer.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Bill’s trying to get rid of us.” 

“Why would he do that?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” I started flipping through the pages of the journal again. When nothing was helping I flipped through all of the pages and let the journal sit open on the last page. All of this is useless. I don’t care about dimension travel, I don’t care about mermaids, I don’t care about that thing anymore. Just as I was about to throw the journal across the room I stopped to read the scribbles on the back cover. The words were jumbled up, but with a couple glances I could see the mixed message. 

He continued to mention the power he now had, reading minds of people he didn’t even have to be in the same room with, or even the same country as he had attempted once. Traveling anywhere he wanted with astral projection or teleportation. Bending time. Though, he also mentioned his fear of the power he had. It was like a drug to him and he was becoming an addict. 

“Oh Bill.” Finally the note ended with a simple sentence. ‘Everyone I care about MUST leave before I completely lose control.’ 

“Did you even take the time to unpack?” Mabel complained. While I was busy reading she had somehow gotten into the room and was packing up my stuff as well. 

“Mabel! What are you doing?” Before she could answer a screeching cut her off. A car had parked, rather hurriedly, in front of the Shack. 

“Who is that?” Mabel turned fearfully towards the doorway. 

“Probably our parents.” I answered, throwing the journal in the bag Mabel had in her hands.

“Why are they here?! We’re not supposed to go home yet, school just started.” 

“I’m assuming it’s part of Bill’s plan to get rid of us.” Moments later the door flung open; the sound of the door hitting the wall caused both of us to jump. 

“Mason! Mabel! Where are you? Are you two okay?” Our mother was yelling. She sounded more distraught than the time when Mabel and I came home bloody because we fell out of a tree. 

“I-In here, mom.” I answered. Mabel was still in disbelief. I didn’t want to believe it either. Stomping across the floor our mother appeared in the doorway. 

“Oooo thank god you’re here. Are you okay? Are either of you hurt?” 

“We’re okay.” Next our father walked into the room. He looked as relieved as our mother to see us. At least he isn’t freaking out like she is. 

“We got a call. They said the building burnt down! We started driving right away.” Mabel and I took turns hugging our parents. 

Finally, once they calmed down things got awkward. They realized there was no fire, and Mabel and I denied any idea who could have called them. Then, last of all, we started talking about Soos. He is still in the hospital, and our parents offered to take us to see him before we went back home. Mabel and I hurriedly accepted. Though a short fight did ensue; I didn’t want to leave yet. I wanted to know where Bill is, and how are we supposed to contact Will? However, the story of the twins would be too much for our parents to believe. The only thing we could do is go with them. Maybe during the summer we could come back here? But what would be the point? Neither of them will be here. 

~ ~ ~ 

“Hey Soos, we just wanted to stop by and say goodbye.” I sat next to a hospital bed with Mabel by my side. Even though no one knew if Soos could tell what I was saying I still spoke. He is in a coma, and it is clear that the hospital is desperately trying to get into contact with his family. If he has any left. 

“I made you a sweater!” Mabel held out the bundle of fabric she had been holding onto and set it next to him on the bed. “We’ll call and check up on you every once in awhile. I promise.” Our parents stood awkwardly out in the hallway. They knew little to nothing about him, which made it kind of strange that they would let us live with him. The same could be said about before when they let us spend the summer with Grunkle Stan and his brother. 

“See you later.” I added as happily as I could before standing up and leaving the room. It was too weird for me to be sitting there talking to him when he is in such a state. Mabel stayed a little longer, explaining some funny stories to him. I listened in and heard a lot of interesting things that Mabel and Will did when they were together. Mainly it was regular Mabel stuff. Glittering things, taking pictures, writing songs, and even making sweaters; who would’ve guessed? But the last thing caught my attention. 

“And before Will left I made sure to give him my number. I hope he contacts me soon. I’m worried about him.” Then she said her final farewell. Our parents were more than happy to be leaving. Getting us back home where they can keep an eye on us twenty-four seven.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sooooo sorry!!! But I promise the next story will be SO much more Billdip. I’ve already started writing it, and it shouldn’t take too long till I get the first chapter up.


End file.
